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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Interactive Eye On The Economy In-depth features on U.S. markets, taxes, employment and the Federal Reserve.
Until a few months ago, Dellria Seales, a home care assistant, was just getting by living with her daughter, a hairdresser, and two grandchildren in a one-bedroom apartment for $750 a month. But a knee injury in January forced her to quit her job, leaving her at the mercy of Samuels' pantry because most of her daughter's $1,200 a month income goes to rent, energy and food costs.
"I need it. Without it, we wouldn't survive," Seales said as she picked up carrots and bananas.
John Vogel, a professor at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, worries that the squeeze will lead to a less nutritious diet and inadequate medical or child care.
In the meantime, rising costs show no signs of abating.
Gas prices hit a record nationwide average of $3.23 per gallon in late May before receding a little, though prices are expected to soar again later this year. Food costs have increased 4.5 percent over the past 12 months, partly because of higher fuel costs. Egg prices were 44 percent higher, while milk was up 21.3 percent over the past 12 months to nearly $4 a gallon, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The average family of four is spending anywhere from $7 to $10 extra a week - $40 more a month - on groceries alone, compared to a year ago, according to retail consultant Burt Flickinger III.
And while overall wage growth is a solid 4.1 percent over the past 12 months, economists say the increases are mostly for the top earners.
Retailers started noticing the strain in late spring and early summer as they were monitoring the spending around the paycheck cycle.
Wal-Mart and Family Dollar key on the first week of the month, when government checks like Social Security and public assistance generally hit consumers' mailboxes.
7-Eleven, whose customers are more diverse, looks at paycheck cycles in specific markets dominated by a major employer, such as General Motors in Detroit, to discern trends in shopping.
To economize, shoppers are going for less expensive food.
"They're buying more peanut butter and pasta. And they're going for hamburger meat," Flickinger, the retail consultant, said. "They're trying to outsmart the store by looking for deep discounts at the end of the month."
He said the last time he saw this was 2000-2001, when the dot-com bubble burst and the economy went into a recession after massive layoffs.
For now, low-price retailers are readjusting their merchandising and pricing.
Wal-Mart is becoming more aggressive on discounting. It announced Thursday it is expanding price cuts to 15,000 items, ranging from Motts apple juice and Progresso soups to women's fleece tops, heading into the holidays.
Family Dollar, whose food offerings were limited to candy and snacks until two years ago, has expanded its mix of groceries like fruit cups, cereal and such refrigerated items as milk and ice cream while cutting back on shoes. This summer the chain began accepting food stamps.
Food pantries are also getting creative. Samuels said her church, Full Gospel Tabernacle of Faith, just started offering free cooking classes to teach clients who are diabetic or have other health conditions how to prepare vegetables like squash. It's also offering free exercise classes.
"We are trying to make them health conscious," Samuels said. "It's not right to give them just anything. Our mantra is eat well and live well."
By AP Business Writer Anne D'Innocenzio. AP Writers Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, N.J., and Terry Tang in Phoenix, Ariz., contributed to this report.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 27 CommentsWe 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!
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.
Except for the billionaires who own and operate George W. Bushit.
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..
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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"!
Did they know this is what they were voting for?
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.
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!
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