Karen Consumer

Sales Drop at Wal-Mart

Ted,
As a Walmart shopper (involuntarilly at the moment) it is the food prices. The big names are competing seriously with their "Great Value" brand, and I buy what's cheapest, not by brand. I buy in bulk when I can (hamburger to go with helper, chicken), their selection of produce was never top notch but it's gone down hill, and they've cut selection at the deli counter without corresponding cost cuts. Even Walmart can't cut everything all the time.

The 'Trickle Down Fraud' of Unemployment Benefits

Your article makes no sense.

Sustained Joblessness and Human Psychology

Being unemployed is depressing. I am treating the work hunt like it's a job, but after 7 weeks, 70+ resumes/applications, and only 1 (one) call in for an interview, it's getting harder. I can see how it would be much easier to pretend you still have a job and live like it until you literally couldn't anymore, but then you hear about people who do just that until the police show up and find a family of four dead on that last day when one of them couldn't do it anymore.

July's Budget Deficit: All Benefits, No Costs

Dear John Galt,

You can tax me all you want, until I have a job again, you're not going to get anything. That 21% drop in personal income tax collections, that includes me. You could try to sell my mobile home (that I'm still paying on), my car (that I'm still paying on), all my personal belongings, even my dog and two cats, but since alot of my friends and neighbors are in that 21% figure, it's going to be tough. Unless of course the Government comes forward with a "cash for everything else" plan.

Surviving the Recession: Retailers Go Downscale

Tide is the most expensive brand when I go shopping, and 20% price decrease (along with decrease quality) won't get me to buy it, that makes it the 2nd most expensive brand to itself.

Bankruptcy Filings: Definitely Not Another Green Shoot

Next couple of years (10/11) when the banks find they can't extend credit to anyone because the worthy borrowers lost their jobs and the unworthy borrowers aren't even trying to get credit, then they themselves may appeal the 2005 bankruptcy act. But for now they got exactly what they wanted, let them live with it.

Consumer Credit Contracts Sharply: How Is This Good for the Economy?

I've already increased my consumption by 16 cents a gallon these past 2 weeks. My city isn't raising fees or laying off people, and the property taxes aren't going up in my county (Thank the Lord). I went grocery shopping today, my biggest non-essential purchase was a $7 (made in America) extension cord for a fan.

I'm starting week 7 of my job hunt, 65 applications/resumes, one outright rejection, but no phone calls/requests for interviews. I am a consumer, and I can't consume anything but bare essentials.

Consumerism is eating the future: "Globalism and consumerism have succeeded in banishing moderation and sanctifying greed, thereby liberating Homo economicus from any moral or ethical constraints on consumption."

If politicians and environmentalists grab on to this article, they've just proven they don't believe anything they've been saying about global warming or recycling, don't they?

It's always been funny to me that these doom sayers always point out to how many people are being born and use things, but they never take into account the death rate. Everyone dies eventually, I would think that in 2025, we will have fewer 65 year olds than today.

Unemployment Rising: Public Policy Makes a Bad Situation Worse

"For them, a parade of employer rejections is one of the few things that would keep them from being employed. I doubt this type of person is all that numerous -- but that's beside the point."

I have been unemployed since June 23. I have completed 51 job applications. I have signed up with two temporary agencies. I have received no phone calls. There are no assignments to be sent out on. I've been applying for $12-$14 positions even though I was making $20.27 and absolutely have to make a minimum of $14 to keep my mobile home and car.

I don't want the government to make my house payment or car payment. My former employer paid into unemployment insurance, perhaps they should have paid me more money instead of the state having unemployment insurance so I could have had more savings (enough to last 3 months of unemployment if I didn't get unemployment insurance). But that's not the way it works in business.

"There are sensible people out there who will recognize that 2009 is not the time for them to, say, commute a long distance to work a job that's been offered to them but they do not enjoy. Sensible people will recognize that public policies have dramatically reduced the costs to them of searching further for the job they'd like, or making this the year they coach junior's baseball team, or do some work on their house, or spend time with an ailing parent, or refrain from "coming out of retirement," or take a trip."

I have bills to pay. I would gladly take a job making $14 an hour with a one hour commute each way. Where is that job? I live in Grand Prairie, Texas. I've been applying to Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Irving, Coppell, Addison, Farmers Branch. I drove 30 minutes to downtown Fort Worth today just to take a typing test to be considered for a position.

I want to work. NO ONE IS HIRING ME.

PS: if anyone reading this is hiring in the D/FW Metroplex, please email me, I'll send you a copy of my resume.

Energy-Climate Bill Could Boost Electricity Costs 20% by 2030

The cap and trade hasn't even come down yet, and already we are paying for it in Texas. Oncor (electricity provider that maintains the power lines) ordered the wrong smart meters and wants consumers to pay for their mistake. Oncor ordered the right ones and is installing them, consumers are going to be paying $3 a month for the next 11-12 years (at least). Meanwhile ERCOT says that the power producers are having problems this summer with power generation and we've had several 'requests' lately to limit our power use between 3pm and 7pm.

We've had 100 degree summers for each of the 20 years that I've lived in Texas (and they recorded 100 degree days back in 1903, before Evil Mankind caused global warming), but we've never had so many requests to "conserve" until they privatized electricity sales "to give the consumer choice". When cap and trade does come into Texas, alot of people are assuming that our already high electricity bills will go higher, because everybody wants to sell electricity, but nobody wants to produce it.

Another Look at Foreclosure Threat to Housing Recovery

"A glimmer of hope: according to emii, Bank of America (BAC) has kicked off its foreclosure relief program for borrowers from its recently acquired Countrywide with a letter of notification regarding eligibility. BoA says up to $150 million has been allocated nationally for Countrywide borrowers in 40 states as part of a settlement with state attorneys general."

Using mr. calculator here, that breaks down to 3.75 million per state for foreclosure relief. If you assume a median home price of $150,000, that's a whopping 25 houses per state. I don't think that's going to help.

Banks Kick Commercial Real Estate Loans Down the Road

The experts who don't see a problem with the banks 'playing kick the can' with these commercial properties must never leave their offices. Irving Mall (Irving, Texas) is a Simon property. The people who venture to the mall know it's on its last legs, we can tell by the condition of the mall and the quality of the stores (that are left). The corner of Story and Irving Blvd; up and down Roy Orr/Valley View, the "For Lease/Build to Suit" signs up and down every major thoroughfare, these tell the truth to the rest of us.

Artificially padding the books (which is how I see it when they refuse to take the loss) at the banks will help them this year, and maybe next, but they will eventually have to take the loss, and when they fall, they will drag us over the edge with them. God help us all.

Auto Repossession Data Indicates Healthier Consumer

Try this: when you sell 40% fewer vehicles than last year, don't you also repo fewer vehicles than last year?

Medical Costs of Obesity Double in Last 10 Years

I am defined as clinically obese because I weight more than 100 pounds of my ideal weight (i'm female 5'6" and weigh 268 pounds, my ideal weight being between 135-160 lbs). Before I lost my job, I was sitting on a bank of 880 sick hours, meaning during my 9.75 years with the city I worked 880 hours more than my counterparts, allowing me to bank 880 sick hours. So I'm not the one adding to this number. Also, when you consider how many professional athletes (the NFL and AFL come to mind) fall under the obese category thanks to the inflexible BMI, I don't think "obesity" is the evil everyone wants it to be.

I do note that it doesn't say what the ages are of this obese population. I was thinking that since the baby boomer generation (1946-1964) starts retiring shortly, they're probably the ones that are pushing this figure (both obesity and cost) up. But you can't say that getting old costs more, that's not politically correct (didn't somebody say 50 was the new 30?).

Medical costs go up with age, fat or not. Menopause isn't caused by fat. Glaucoma isn't caused by fat. Alzheimers, well, no one is quite sure what causes that. These add to medical costs. Getting old is expensive. Unless you're ready to outlaw old age, medical costs are going to go up a while until the baby boomers start dying out (hopefully because of old age and not government supported euthanasia like in Europe). Period.

Revenues Down, Profits Up: Is This a Problem?

Nobody out here in flyover country believes what the talking heads are saying about economic recovery. When I have a job again, when my son has a job again, when my friend E. has a job again, and when my friend L. has a full time job, then I will believe the economy is getting better, not before.