Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
Consumers Offset High Gas Prices With Food Budgets
U.S. consumers may have little choice but to bite the bullet at the pump when gasoline prices rise, but they aren’t completely powerless when it comes to limiting its effect on their household budgets.
That’s the conclusion of a trio of economists in a recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper which found that consumers respond to higher pump prices by opting toward eating at home and foregoing higher-priced grocery items in favor of sales.
“A back-of-the-envelope calculation based on our results implies that consumers offset about 70% of the increased expenditures when gasoline prices double by substituting away from eating out towards groceries and by substituting towards promotional items at the grocery store,” economists Dora Gicheva and Justine Hastings of Yale University and Sofia Villas-Boas of the University of California, Berkeley wrote.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2007/12/03/consumers-offset-high-gas-prices-with-food-budgets/
Life is harder now, some experts say
Generation gap: After paying the bills, middle-class pockets are emptier
Bankruptcy law expert and Harvard University Professor Elizabeth Warren spent a lot of time crunching consumer spending numbers for her popular books, "The Fragile Middle Class” and “The Two-Income Trap.” In both, she makes this point: Despite all those $200 sneakers you hear about and the long lines at Starbucks, consumers are actually spending less of their income — much less — on discretionary items like clothing, entertainment and food than their parents did. In fact, after taking care of essentials like housing and health care, today’s middle class has about half as much spending money as their parents did in the early 1970s, Warren says.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21309318/
Middle class feels the squeeze
Rising costs of health care, housing, and education are forcing middle-class families to work harder and longer, says a new report.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Middle-class households in America have to work harder than ever to maintain their standard of living, according to a report released Wednesday.
Sixty nine percent of middle-class households are at risk of losing their standard of living in the long term, says Demos, an advocacy group for lower and middle-class Americans.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/28/news/economy/middle_class/
The Real Middle Class Squeeze
Let's face it: Price hikes for key goods and services are taking a toll
Who lives in "The core"? That's the twilight zone -- core inflation land -- the Federal Reserve visits every month to measure America's inflation rate. In the Core, people aren't worrying about rising energy or food prices because those necessities aren't counted in the official statistics for core inflation. And if they aren't counted, they don't exist. Taxes don't exist in the Core, either, so rising property taxes aren't bothering anyone. In the land of the Core, inflation is rising at only 1.9% annually.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_31/b3894165_mz029.htm
Middle-class incomes dwarfed by Bay Area's high housing costs
Even with a family income of nearly $60,000 and 17 years of steady employment, it took a five-year search for Manuel Navarro, his wife and three children to find a safe, affordable and clean apartment in San Jose.
The $1,300 rent in the new Gish Apartments, a subsidized complex with chic, futuristic architecture, has allowed the 47-year-old electronics assembler a more comfortable life. Still, he's tapping his 401(k) account to pay off old bills.
"I don't really care about retirement," he said. "I know if I keep doing things the right way, I'm going to be OK. . . . I'm always going to be poor."
http://www.mercurynews.com/realestatenews/ci_7200727?nclick_check=1
Piggybanks Full Of Pesos
Mexico's middle class is exploding, and that's good for U.S. business
Lucia Jimenez and Benjamín Macias have been married for just a month, but they're already buying their first home: a newly built two-bedroom bungalow in an attractive subdivision a half-hour's drive from Mexico City. Lucia, 23, a clothing store clerk, and Benjamín, 24, an office worker at an eyeglass retailer, have a combined income of nearly $650 a month, enough to qualify for a 30-year loan to buy their $25,200 house. "Before, it was much more difficult to buy your own home," says Lucia. "Things have gotten a lot better."
http://www.businessweek.com/@@bR4qQoYQBgaIVR0A/magazine/content/06_11/b3975071.htm
Beyond the philisophical masterbation on the economy, what would you do to improve the standard of living for the mid and lower classes while preserving the perogative of the wealthy? We can't just sit and acknowledge the growing divide without being ready accept the social realities that come with it.
The vast majority (almost 60% of what the Federal government spends is entitlement and other mandatory spending. This money is spent regardless of how much revenue comes in because the law says it must be spent.The problem with the Bush tax cuts, is that his administration is spending money like it isn't lent
Yeah - the "tax cuts dont spur economic growth" revisionists are rather tiresome.Funny how history gets re-written and reinterpreted by those in power or by current standards.
"Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920's, and the extensive stock market speculation that took place during the latter part that same decade."
Beyond the philisophical masterbation on the economy, what would you do to improve the standard of living for the mid and lower classes while preserving the perogative of the wealthy? We can't just sit and acknowledge the growing divide without being ready accept the social realities that come with it.
Like I said, I only jumped into this thread because I wanted to challenge the idea that governments cant spur the economy.
"Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920's, and the extensive stock market speculation that took place during the latter part that same decade."
http://www.gusmorino.com/pag3/greatdepression/