Groceries was about $70 even though it was under, say, 15 itemes. I wasn't the one paying, but still. It's just damn ridiculous.
Oh good, it's not just me then. Misery loves company, so I thank you for sharing that, Tact. Do you know that the "Average American" is supposed to live on $5 per day according to Consumer Credit Counseling services? $600 for grocieries a month for a family of four, equals roughly $5 per person. You want
ketchup with your burgers tonight? Oh, hoh,
hoh, fogettaboutit. Pickles were gone a long time ago. Eating out? Pshaw, who can afford to pay for human labor in addition to food costs? That was
so 1990s.
If I may add to your observations a bit, Thought, there are two very serious problems hidden within the 5.5% unemployment statistic. First, unemployment is distributed extremely unequally among the State economies;
Texas is at around 3.9%,
whereas Michigan is at around 6.9%. Thus, the people of Texas and the people of Michigan will give two very different stories about the "US economy." The people of Detroit,
in which the unemployment rate is currently 7.7%, will provide even more dismal analysis.
Secondly, I do wish the Bureau of Labor Statistics would begin reporting on the problem of
underemployment. Wanna know what the best-paying job is in a certain county in northeast Ohio right now?
Striptease. I am not shitting you; that's being advertised in my local newspaper right now, along with some waitering, dishwashing, and truck driving. I did not go to college to strip (there's a "male review" position open locally as well as "dancer" positions, so I can't blame my gender), waiter, clean dishes, or drive trucks. Even the local county democratic party is so strapped for cash that the campaign job I could have had this election season has vanished before my very feet. And the State government is in an employment freeze (there was a Cleveland gov't job fair recently that - get this - advertised zero jobs!) Thus I'm doing volunteer work on behalf of Obama from home until I can find a job to pay for gas, and although I graduated at the very top of my college class, nobody's answering my resumes because jobs are being snapped up even before they're listed, apparently.
This is not meant to be a bitchfest post; I am extremely fortunate in that mommy and daddy are offering to pay for my grad school, and I am
assuming a Master's degree in a well-chosen field will lead to a job that does not insult my educational attainment. One could also blame me for not moving to Texas or Minnesota, or at least expanding my job search beyond the next-county-over. Besides, my situation bodes extremely well for Chrono Cross hacking in the near future.
However, if I as a college grad am in this position, I know there are many others in Ohio, Michigan, and other high-unemployment, high-
underemployment States who are far less fortunate than I, especially if they've been kicked-out-of-the-nest or had-a-kid-too-early and whatnot. The media may sound too pessimistic, but the talking heads still have a ways to go before they start sounding
realistic to the Ohio viewer.
My, that felt good. Much of my economics training took place under a professor who labeled himself "Dr. Doom," so that may also partially explain my pessimism. But perhaps the best economic indicator I've come across was my staunchly-Republican dentist, who turned to me in early May and said, "What, you mean the recession we're not supposed to be in?"
