Great post. I found it very interesting that cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris bought out Maxwell House coffee. They must like to produce addictive type products. I mean that's just good business after all. I just recently read a piece talking about how additives are put into processed foods now to actually make them addictive. It said that same Phillip Morris also owns Kraft Foods now. Go figure. Think I'll start a vegetable garden this year.
so this made me think about why I have not been super stressed about the recent economic swing.....things move in cycles. While I was only 3/4 years old in the early 70's inflation crisis, I do remember the 80's one a bit more as we were already pretty poor- well, lower middle class/working class growing up- and we had to eat every other day, and make things stretch a bit. There are cycles of good and bad, up and down. Honestly, that is healthy. If there is too much of one situation, things are out of balance, and to me, that is the worst place to be.
Smoke, You are Lucky, Quality, free of Hormones, and Antibiotic Free fed chicken Eggs (Nellies, Eggland, or similar by me) at $5.69 a dozen. They used to be $3.69 or so, 3 years ago. BJs has them a little cheaper per dozen, but BJs sells 18 Egg Cartons.
My wife and I have been thinking about relocating. I've been arguing for a more rural setting. She is up for it, but how rural is the question. I explained to her that when I lived in a small town in an agricultural area food was just better. She didn't get it. I pointed out, I was actually able to go into Whole Foods and buy things, they carried the same things that you could get at the farmers market, and I could get fresh baked whole grain bread. I recalled how I used to go in and get it right out of the oven and had to let it cool before I could close the bag. I explained how we can't afford Whole Foods here, even if we could the produce isn't fresh, and the bakery doesn't make any bread. She used to work at a bakery. It started to click. She said, "They can't bake it in the store, because they can't afford the space, they have to bake it somewhere else and ship it in."Yep, sad. A "quart" jar of mayonnaise is now 30 ounces and costs over $6.00 USD.
I've noticed one commodity that hasn't changed in size or price - farm eggs! They're still packed in a carton of a dozen and cost $3.00/doz almost everywhere you see them - in my neck of the woods anyway. Fresher, too!
Your local farmer is probably the best source for foodstuffs if available and buying in bulk gets you the best deal. Just a couple of months ago we bought half a cow for $3.75/lb which included processing and vacuum packing. We've got beef in the freezer that will last us close to two years. Local farmer's markets are getting pricey, I've noticed, but the produce is still cheaper than what's available in stores. Quality is topnotch and it's fresh. Learning to can or freeze vegetables is fun, easy and satisfying - it is time-consuming, but might redirect some of those screen-time hours that are otherwise wasted.
Yepper, I do!! To my recollection, as I embarked in my new career as a real estate appraiser for a Brooklyn Savings Bank (now long Gone!) right out of college (1973), we were allocated a Company Car as part of my compensation. Although this is a digression from ShrinkFlation, my point is pertinent to joedrum's post. The company car was "my" first car 9drove Daddy's until then) - a 1972 Chevy Malibu, Dark Green with a light brown Vinyl interior, certainly a bit ugly, BUT it had a V-8 Chevy Engine!! Shortly thereafter, the Oil Embargo started imposed by OPEC. The first summer in 1973, gas was about $.339 a Gallon. The price began to rise....$.45, $.55, $.75, etc. By mid 1974 (or so) we were approaching $1 a gallon gas. I recall very well an ad on the back pages of the NY Post by Datsun (now Nissan) it said: "FUTURE SHOCK.....$.999 for a gallon of gas. Datsun, Toyota, and now Honda (& VW too) started to flood the market with their new fuel efficient 4 Cylinder "baby Cars". Then the gas lines started, guessing around 1976 (?). People including me started following Gasoline Trucks who would deliver a fresh load to a Gas station. The lines formed a soon as the Truck Stopped! There were plenty of NO Gas signs all over!. Be it Contrived or not, the gas shortage was being experienced, driven by Panic to get your car's gas tank filled. Then it was a Governor of Louisiana (Not Clinton) who came up with the Odd/Even License Plate system to dispense gas.! It worked instantly in Louisiana - that spread across the country rapidly. The Lines Vanished! But the price kept going up! Oh, and in the middle of this was the new requirement of No -Lead gasoline which impacted the performance of the engines until mods were made a few years later.
A couple of things C Man. First my very first car (actually not mine but my dads) a 64' Chevy Biscayne with 3 on the tree. Sadly that car came to a very abrupt ending
...sorry dad. Later I had that same 72 Malibu which you described. That one died a much more natural death. Those cars back then were good for about 100k miles and that was it. Now I own a Ram Pickup, a Nissan (formerly Datsun as you mentioned), and a Toyota Yaris which I bought new as a commuter in 2010...which as I write has 366k miles on er and still purring. We could never have imagined.
I agree about that part where corporations are geared towards extracting every bit of nutrient. This was my pet peeve before Covid. These AI based business models are designed to shave pennies from everything. It degrades quality in ways you may not even notice, until the whole activity is gone. Why don't they have "For here" cups anymore? Because people will sit and talk to their friends and people sitting aren't working, no they only have "togo cups" now. They did this with cellphone tracking... Why aren't there venues that have music, well some AI algorithm decided it wasn't efficient, better to have them sit at home and fill out online status reports.
That is so funny..... When I had my Father's 1966 Chevy Impala SS {Vinyl Bucket seats with a shifting Console, Man!!) to drive around - That's the car I learned to drive with as a 16-18 YO. I worked in my Father's Northern Italian Restuarant in Flushing Queens, NY at the time (that's another story - How I got There for a different Thread), As an 18 yo, in 1969, I would take a Bus to my father's place of Business, pick up his Impala to use on a weekday, use it for the day and then bring it back to him and I would then catch a Bus back Home! He wasn't going to take a Bus!! He would say as I left with the Car: "And Don't bring it back without Gas"!! At $.33 a gallon circa that time, 2 Bucks gave me 1/2 a Tank !! No one cared about MPGs....Didn't have a clue what that was at the time. That Impala SS had the Chevy 283 V-8 in Silver with a Black Vinyl Interior.!!But it sure was fun buying $3 worth of gas and cruising around all day with your pals cranking the tunes and looking for girls on a hot summers day wasn't it.
Hahaha that's great! 50 years! Sounds like a keeper! If that old Chevy could tell tales.
.It was my dear wife that gifted me a new cheapo Gammon Drum Kit at Xmas 2018. So in early 2019, I was able to play drums again after 50 YEARS!. I posted that story elsewhere here. She did that bc I had mentioned to her earlier that year in 2018 that I had a Hangering to play the drums again. I might go to a local Music studio to play their drums - Just to Get It Out Of My System!. I was seeing retirement directly coming up, as i was 67 at the time. I retired in May 2021, forced mostly because of my Spinal Arthritis getting worse with chronic pains and the chronic anxiety it generated daily. COVID was the final nail - not getting it, but working from home in my basement, looking at a basement wall and a PC everyday to transact business via Emails, Texts, and Phone calls. Hated It! (except for the cessation of 3 hour commutes to and from work), no social connections at the workplace. And my bank started a new Software Mortgage Loan Tracking System for originating and Closing New Mortgage loans ------ Maddening for an Old Dog. Glad that's Over - Except for the backward spiral of being on a fixed Income with High Inflation & ShrinkFlation to Boot!.Hahaha that's great! 50 years! Sounds like a keeper! If that old Chevy could tell tales.
My dad was a Chevy guy. Not that he didn't own a few others here and there. But it was Chevrolet all the way. Btw a Schlitz Beer guy too...and "63" cigars. My heart skips a little beat every time I get the whiff of a cheap cigar quaffing by
That is your own darn fault. It is sad when I talk to people on zoom and they look so miserable sitting on their couch. For me work from home was like winning the lottery. Of course, I had invested in a house with a nice office with three windows and a Mahogney desk and I have an espresso machine as mentioned above. Prior to work from home I was looking at sitting an office the size of a kitchen with twelve coworkers, my desk was two foot by four foot, and I had to play footsy with someone sitting across from me. Most of my coworkers were from Bangladesh and couldn't string together a "Hi How are you, how's the weather", without a grimace.
. I ran out and reloaded every single day .
