NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2007
Living Paycheck To Paycheck Getting Harder
Americans Are Finding It More Difficult To Stretch Their Dollars
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Marcia Watkis a volunteer at the Bedstuy Campaign Against Hunger, a food pantry that lets people in need shop for their own items, checks groceries for Merna Smith in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007. (AP)
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What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner.
Across the nation, Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars to the next payday as they juggle higher rent, food and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families as well as the poor, and has reached the point of affecting day-to-day calculations of merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 7-Eleven Inc. and Family Dollar Stores Inc.
Food pantries, which distribute foodstuffs to the needy, are reporting severe shortages and reduced government funding at the very time that they are seeing a surge of new people seeking their help.
While economists debate whether the country is headed for a recession, some say the financial stress is already the worst since the last downturn at the start of this decade.
From Family Dollar to Wal-Mart, merchants have adjusted their product mix and pricing accordingly. Sales data show a marked and more prolonged drop in spending in the days before shoppers get their paychecks, when they buy only the barest essentials before splurging around payday.
"It's pretty pronounced," said Kiley Rawlins, a spokeswoman at Family Dollar. "It seems like to us, customers are running out of food products, paper towels sooner in the month."
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said the imbalance in spending before and after payday in July was the biggest it has ever seen, though the drop-off wasn't as steep in August.
And 7-Eleven says its grocery sales have jumped 12-13 percent over the past year, compared with only slight increases for non-necessities like gloves and toys. Shoppers can't afford to load up at the supermarket and are going to the most convenient places to buy emergency food items like milk and eggs.
"It even costs more to get the basics like soap and laundry detergent," said Michelle Grassia, who lives with her husband and three teenage children in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Her husband's check from his job at a grocery store used to last four days. "Now, it lasts only two," she said.
To make up the difference, Grassia buys one gallon of milk a week instead of three. She sometimes skips breakfast and lunch to make sure there's enough food for her children. She cooks with a hot plate because gas is too expensive. And she depends more than ever on the bags of free vegetables and powdered milk from a local food pantry.
Grassia's story is neither new nor unique. With the fastest-rising food and energy prices since the 1980s, low-income consumers are stretching their budgets by eating cheap foods like peanut butter and pasta.
Industry analysts and some economists fear the strain will get worse as people are hit with higher home heating bills this winter and mortgage rates go up.
It's bad enough already for 85-year-old Dominica Hoffman.
She gets $1,400 a month in pension and Social Security from her days in the garment industry. After paying $500 in rent on an apartment in Pennsauken, N.J., and shelling out money for food, gas and other expenses, she's broke by the end of the month. She's had to cut fruits and vegetables from her grocery order - and that's even with financial help from her children.
"Everything is up," she said.
Many consumers, particularly those making less than $30,000 a year, are cutting spending on nutritious food like milk and vegetables, and analysts fear they're further skimping on basic medical care and other critical services.
Coupon-clipping just isn't enough.
"The reality of hunger is right here," said the Rev. Melony Samuels, director of The BedStuy Campaign against Hunger, a church-affiliated food pantry in Brooklyn.
The pantry scrambled to feed 5,000 new families over the past 12 months, up almost 70 percent from 3,000 the year before.
"I am shocked to see such numbers," Samuels said, "and I am really concerned that this is just the beginning of what we are going to see."
In the past three months, Samuels has seen more clients in higher-paying jobs - the $35,000 range - line up for food.
The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which covers 23 counties in New York State, cited a 30 percent rise in visitors in the first nine months of this year, compared with 2006.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Let the financial gurus help! For just $299, you too can learn how to wip out your debt and become a millionaire in 3 months. LOL
Any lie will do, so long as it lets them continue to feel superior while they crush the life out of everyone in this country (and the world).
The Republican plan is: Welfare to the already very wealthy; bupkis to the needy. And they call it, "Compassionate Conservatism"! Orwell would be proud!
don''t need you. and they need you like a hole
in the head. appraisal is a matter of opinion.
some people value a van gogh painting more
than they would the painter. having been
a ''liability'' not an asset for 23 years and
living hand to mouth all that time, on charity
which i may lose, should i seek work, and watched
for fraud like a hawk, chicken feed is just fine.
i had an excellent education, money in the bank,
and in a split second it was all gone. it cannot
be recovered. something from nothing? something
for nothing? that''s very rare. its all about
getting the rich richer, and some people feel
very sadistically and arrogantly, the way to
get rid of poverty, is to get rid of the poor.
sad facts of life. the high and mighty look
down upon the lowly sneering down their nose.
Did they know this is what they were voting for?
They have a country to defend against an enemy they created - Control is the name of the game! Put America into the Worst Debt it has every had - to help your buddies in the banking industry make huge profits from the interest on that money.
What a black hole this administration has gotten us into - It''s "Real" - they just can''t tell you about it because "It''s Secret"!
There are emergencies and unforseen events that contribute to financial demise, and all can''t be prevented by the prudent purchase of insurance.
It still boils down to personal responsibility in the majority of situations.
Abuse and fraud run rampant is these programs. Many Armenians in Glendale, California, like the illegal Mexicans you have encountered, are notorious for scamming our system. Every punk Armenian high schooler is driving around in a brand new BMW 3 series, wearing the Tag Heuer ID wathces, while the parents are self-employed claiming little or no income, sharing residences, pocketing every entitlement known to man, and forming gangs like ART, Armenian Response Team, to intimidate and promote voilence. They are moving to achieve political positions in the local areas and are creating hate-filled ghettos of sub-culture. We have to stop this and quit being shy about defending our country from invasion by foreigners with no desire to assimilate. Your experience is unfortunately quite common and it is the standard operating procedure of many immigrants, here for the freebies while disrespecting our citizenry, laws and culture.
HOW ABOUT US THAT ARE ON SOCIAL SECURITY ONLY AND THE IDIOT IN WASHINGTON THAT WONT COUNT THE INFLATION ON FOOD AND FUEL FOR THE COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT AND WHAT LITTLE THAT IS GIVEN IS TAKEN BACK FOE MEDICARE?
WASHINGTON DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THE CITIZENS JUST AS LONG AS THEY CAN LINE THEIR POCKETS THE PEOPLE CAN STARVE!
THAT IS WHY I KEEP STATING THAT WE SHOULD DUMP THE MAJOR PARTIES AND LOOK FOR A THIRD PARTY!
I HAD HOPES THAT ELECTING A DEMOCRAT CONGRESS WOULD COME TO OUR AID BUT ALL THEY CAN DO IS TRY TO TAX US FURTHER! FOR ME THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!
You are absolutely right. Most politicians are just like corporate CEOs in that they care nothing for the underlings, care only about the duration of their assignments or terms, and fattening up their wallets and pensions at the expense of anyone and everyone.
It''s the way it is so your only option is to play the game and either attempt politics or work towards one of those corporate slots with a big salary and compensation package attached. If it''s too late, you''re just screwed like all the rest of us.
Why do you think the Lotto''s are so popular? They are played feverishly by the desperate, lost souls living lives of despair and angst.
This is why the American citizenry has had it with the open border, illegal pandering, entitlement obsessed politicians who refuse to close our borders while providing benefits for the illegals, stolen from our tax money.
for. Don''t expect anything different from crook HITLERY and the other top 5 candidates. Guaranteed they will STAY THE COURSE as Bush....Do you really want that???? Do your research on these IDIOT candidates. VOTE FOR RON PAUL..... he is the democrats and republicans WORST NIGHTMARE but is the only one I see can represent the American people and bring back
the Constitution.
It must be coming up to an election in America..
What can''t people afford their microwaves, large screen TVs, two cars, buying cloths, carpet, computers, going out for coffee, or a meal, McDonald''s, beer, smokes, soft drinks, holidays, sopping, etc.. Yes there is always people who really struggle, but when people have to cut down old cloths and make them up for their children, turn old sheets into something else, go to bed without pajamas, never go out for coffee let alone a meal, never have a beer or smoke, (not that I would want it anyway) not afford to go out at all and have to go without meals etc, like I have done here in Australia many years ago under our left wing government then people know that they are finding it hard to live..and i have no doubt that there are people in America who are like this, but it is only when you experience this are you finding it hard to live..
Except for the billionaires who own and operate George W. Bushit.
Your social security fund was stolen, and given to the war profiteers, as was the public education budget, 200 billion dollars is being stolen to fund an illegal war, the prices of the nation''s infrastructure materials has been colluded ever upwards, while it decided that we don''t need to repair our roads, schools, bridges, waterways, etc, which is enough to absorb all the unemployed Americans, and still need foreign workers.
Don''t look at the Mexicans, the Armenians, the whoever, you only help the elite continue to make suckers out of you, using "divide and conquer". Look instead at Washington DC., and your state capitals, there is where the root of the problem lies, and if they won''t listen to reason, then maybe a little unreason could be called for.
We are being sold the lies that illegal immigration is great for America! We are feed lies every day that they only improve America.
Before we had the flood of illegal immigrants, our schools were superior, our hospitals and medical was the best, but now because we insist that we must educate and reward their bad behavior, schools hospitals and the standard of living is being made a third world standard.
We are being made slaves!
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by grammawhamma
October 22, 2007 5:12 PM PDT
- eggy: No...I must disagree with you. These are jobs that were available before to non Spanish speaking people. The reason that speaking fluent Spanish is a requirement now is because these are jobs that deal with the public. Since there are so many Mexicans in our public that can not or will not speak English they need people fluent in Spanish to communicate with them.
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