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January 10, 2017

Shrinkflation

a12ozbacon.jpeg

"Looking at unemployment figures first, while the unemployment rate is currently very low, the number of Americans of working age not in the labour force is currently at an all-time high of over 95 million people.
Discouraged workers who stop looking for work are no longer classified as unemployed but instead become economically inactive, but clearly many of these people really should be counted as unemployed. Similarly, while government statistical agencies record inflation rates of between one and two percent, measures that use methodologies used in the past (such as John Williams’ Shadowstats measures) show consumer prices rising at annual rates of 6 to 8 percent. In addition, many people have noticed what has been termed ‘shrinkflation’, where prices remain the same even as package sizes shrink. A common example is bacon, which used to be sold by the pound but which is now commonly sold in 12 ounce slabs - - Hypernormalisation

Posted by gerardvanderleun at January 10, 2017 11:46 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Let's make bacon great again.

Posted by: tim at January 10, 2017 12:00 PM

There has never been leftover bacon at our house.

Tired of shriveled up little 3" pieces of bacon after they've been cooked in the fry pan?

Butter a cookie pan (the one with the 1/2" vertical edge) with oil and lay the slices out on there, then into the oven on the middle rack at 400. Flip em with tongs when the first side is done. There ya go, full sized bacon that hangs all the way off both sides of that BLT.

Don't you dare dump that liquid gold down the drain! (you'll blow the bio,at in your drainfield)

While it's still hot pour it into a small pyrex container, lid it, then right into the fridge.

Next time you fry some eggs for break use a spoonful of that now white paste into the pan rather than butter or oil.

Cookin up a can of green beans? Drop a spoonful in there. Pancakes? Same thing. dawgeez

"Bacon - it really is a food from heaven!"

Posted by: ghostsniper at January 10, 2017 1:02 PM

The Secret Shame of the Middle Class is that they're broke. Average hourly wages have risen by 2.9 percent in the last year, but average number of hours worked has fallen. But wait, there's more:

The ratio of employment to population was 59.7% last month, little changed from 59.6% a year earlier. But these figures were well below the 62.7% of the population that was employed in December 2007 when the Great Recession officially began. In a strong economic recovery, the employment-to-population ratio would be expected to rise sharply as a larger share of the population decides to enter the work force. A comparison of the labor-force participation rates also shows a relatively weak employment recovery. This ratio was roughly unchanged year-over-year, but the 62.7% participation rate in December was way below the 66.0% in December 2007.

Some analysts suggest that this fall in the employment-to-population ratio and the labor-force participation rate are to be expected given that the US population is aging and may be voluntarily exiting the labor force. According to them, the decline in the figure is due to demography and does not reflect a weak labor-market recovery. To respond to this, look at the participation rate for the 25- to 54-year-olds — the prime working group. These figures, which also come from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, show that 81.4% of those in this age group were in the labor force in December, down from 83.2% in December 2007.

Get that? The labor participation rate today, after eight years of "recovery" boasted by the Obama administration, is much lower than it was when he took office. Some recovery.

Posted by: Donald Sensing at January 10, 2017 1:32 PM

And Smithfield is now owned by the Chinese. Shuanghui International.

Posted by: OldFert at January 10, 2017 2:01 PM

I went to Oscar Meyer. They have a 22oz. Pack.

Posted by: Tripletap at January 10, 2017 4:50 PM

After 8 years of Obama you still believe government unemployment numbers? Or any of their numbers? Then you're crazy. Employment is not great, but it is much better than the government knows.

Cast your eyeballs on Europe where huge chunks of the economy are, in German, Scwartz. No records. No paper. Payment in cash or kind or through a trusted intermediary. Receipts neither wanted nor offered.

In some ways Obama and the Dems were good for the USA - they may have finally have taught you that one's own government is always, always, always one's worst enemy.

Posted by: Fred Z at January 10, 2017 6:56 PM

Fred's right, cash only, always.
Cash in, cash out.
It's nobody else's bidnit.

Buy meats at wholesale in bulk, then divvy it up at home, store in the freezer. This is old news.

Posted by: ghostsniper at January 11, 2017 4:54 AM

Had the amusing experience in Germany of paying cash for hotel rooms, no records, no tax for owner.

Posted by: pbird at January 11, 2017 10:06 AM

In Germany every house had rooms for rent and a brewery in the basement.

A feather bed all most killed me.

Posted by: ghostsniper at January 11, 2017 1:01 PM

All this about paying in cash is the reason why the 'gummint' is so happy to see businesses go to a cashless operation. They get all the taxes due, the banks don't have to deal with tellers and robberies drop since there is nothing to grab.

There are Countries going cashless, India for one but they're finding a split in the status of the citizenry. If they don't make enough money they don't have bank accounts; they're cut out of the economy.

Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck at January 11, 2017 5:00 PM

Venezuela is also going cashless, but for a very different (and not at all pleasant) reason.

Posted by: Grizzly at January 11, 2017 6:31 PM

The featherbed does sound deadly.

Posted by: pbird [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 12, 2017 2:04 PM

I remember the shrinkflation of the 70s: the candy bar wrapper stayed the same size but the contents shrunk....

Posted by: roger at January 12, 2017 8:15 PM

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