I saw where one food chain cancelled Pepsi Cola because their prices were to high. And this don’t look like it’s going to change any time soon. We can impact the situation by cutting back on our food intake which people like me need to do anyway.
Historically High Prices
The post-pandemic inflation peak we all just lived through has left its mark on American wallets. Even though the pace of price hikes has moderated, there’s one particular area of spending that is eating up a lot of your budget… excuse the pun.
In 2022, Americans spent more than 11% of their disposable income on food, according to the USDA. The last time the share of food spending was this large was about 30 years ago, in 1991.
Shrinkflation
Even if sticker prices haven’t risen as much in your area, you may be getting less bang for your buck, thanks to shrinkflation. In this phenomenon, portion and packaging sizes are reduced while the price stays unchanged.
Shrinkflation has become so prevalent that even President Joe Biden called out America’s largest food makers.
Many food companies have pointed to higher wholesale costs for things like sugar and beef to defend the climbing cost of their products. Minimum wage has also ticked higher in many states, which added to the costs for companies, which they may pass onto consumers.
Food price hikes tend to be sticky, which could mean that the share of your income spent on food will stay elevated for a while.
All of my January 5th past posts are so much better than anything I can come up with today so I am post a RE-RUN SUNDAY on my scotirish.org blog. But this one is just for you.
I am 75 years old and I have so many unanswered questions!!!! I still haven’t found out who let the Dogs Out…where’s the beef…how to get to Sesame Street… why Dora doesn’t just use Google Maps…Why do all flavors of fruit loops taste exactly the same, or how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop……why eggs are packaged in a flimsy paper carton, but batteries are secured in plastic that’s tough as nails, yet light bulbs too are in a flimsy carton… Ever buy scissors? You need scissors to cut into the packaging of scissors… i still don’t understand why there is Braille on drive up ATM’s or why “abbreviated” is such a long word; or why is there a D in ‘fridge’ but not in refrigerator… why lemon juice is made with artificial flavor yet dish-washing liquid is made with real lemons… why they sterilize the needle for lethal injections… and, why do you have to “put your two cents in” but it’s only a “penny for your thoughts” where’s that extra penny going… why do The Alphabet Song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star have the same tune… why did you just try to sing those two previous songs… and just what is Victoria’s secret? ….and what would you do for a Klondike bar and you know as soon as you bite into it ,it falls apart…and Why do we drive on Parkways and park on Driveways? do you really think I am this witty?? … I actually got this from a friend, who stole it from her brother’s girlfriend’s, uncle’s cousin’s, baby momma’s doctor who lived next door to an old class mate’s mail man…Now it is your turn to take it from me…Peace!!
Copy and Paste, change the age, and enjoy your day!!
It’s not uncommon to think about New Year’s given its close proximity to the 31st of December. Even Merle Haggard sang ♫ If We Make It Through December ♪ I mean you’d have to die to miss that. Hold that thought, I got coffee brewing. This here, this posting on one of my many blogs, is one of the reasons I don’t make resolutions. I make them in December and they don’t make it through the end of the month.
Many a year I have said I am going to learn to play an instrument, the piano, the guitar, a harmonica and what do I have to show for all those “I’m gonna’s” zippo, nada, nothing.
Oh yeah, there’s this one, “I’m going to quit posting on facebook and do all my writing on my blogs.” That lasts maybe one post.
I start stuff all the time, I don’t need New Years’ to do that. I learn from the best in starting stuff, Ed Norton would roll up his sleeves a dozen times before he’d eventually get started. I even call that early initiative part, my “rolling up my sleeves part.”
My problem is I have a grasshopper mentality. What do grasshopper’s do, they hop to it all over the place, one to another. That’s me. I start something and half way through I’m off to doing something else. What I need is someone to advocate for the things I start so that I see them through to completion. Like a coach or something. You wouldn’t think that a man who completed 59 courses (self-study and tested) in 60 days would have that problem, would you?
Have I mentioned that I am nearing 80. To that end I say, I have had my day in the Sun. I have overcame some obstacles, I have accomplished other aspirations and I have failed at a lot of efforts. So, I don’t have a bucket list. I’m through doing, but I do have some finishing up to do. And if I don’t finish them, so be it.
I have, say, a half dozen or so maladies that anyone could take me out. I’m not going to list them, they are not a woe is me list. Just a recognition that I see the end is coming. And if I die, I die, but it won’t be because I had this or I had that. People die at 80 all the time. I once heard a doctor explain it this way. “Your heart has so many ticks and when it stops ticking, you stop living.” I like that explanation. I’ll go with that.
I saw a post on Facebook the other day referencing a blog that advocated holding funerals for people before they died. So when I saw this headline prompt “…What People Might Say….” I thought I’d consider the question for the purpose of my funeral.
I don’t think of MY FUNERAL excessively. I am 80, well I will be in 9 months. I’m bored with being 79 and want to get on to 80. So, I say and think of myself as being 80. There are days that I can’t believe I am that old, 79 or 80. How did I get here, this oldness I mean. I kept waking up everyday that’s what did it. Yes, I say, God wakes me up….and I want to be thankful, but if I’m not, will He strike me dead on the spot. That’s not fair. There are many a folk who are living who don’t give Him a second thought and he let’s them keep on living.
No, I am not going to turn this into a Health Report. Though there are the matter of a half dozen issues that I could do without, thank you very much. I’m not writing what I think of me but what people might say about me. When you get on to being 80 there are less and less people to have something to say about you. You wouldn’t believe the number of funerals that have been held this past year. And that’s another thing.
Is it insensitive to say that I don’t like how funerals all fit into the same pattern. There seems to be very little creativity in the service. I want to include Country Music numbers and maybe a rock n roll number but I have never heard that sort of music in funerals before. And would it be appropriate to say, let’s dance. I definitely do not want a ‘woe is me’ funeral. I’ve already had enough “woe is me” life.
It’s not descriptive enough to just say “he was a character” say “He was something else” Talks loud, can be boisterous, and never smiles. It’s not that I don’t smile, but for so many years I had nothing to smile about that my smile muscles atrophied. I also laugh raucously.
It’s also not like there’s a lot to say about me to begin with. I am kind, considerate, and helpful.
Were this written say even just 30 years ago you could have said “he likes sports, played sports, was a sport. But any more I tire of sports. There’s nothing as regretful as getting up from your chair after watching a game of football for 4 hours and realizing you just wasted that time for nothing and besides your team probably lost and you have nothing to feel good about. I’ll even admit to watching the Chicago Bulls win 6 NBA Championships and feeling the angst of 4th quarter rallies, “are they going to pull it out, the coach sucks, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT!!!”
I work hard. Well, not any more. Any more I can be accused of doing nothing and that would be correct. But when I worked, I worked hard. And at many different tasks at that. Now, there’s a subject worthy of writing about, the number of jobs that I have had. But I have never worked in a restaurant or fast food, nor did I ever apply at any of those places either.
In conclusion there’s not a need to wonder what people might say about me, be I dead or alive. And besides it’s not for my benefit what people think but theirs. The End
With Kevin McCarthy being driven from Congress, as he announces his resignation, he joins at least 36 other members who are also resigning. There will always be somebody willing to take their place even if disjointedness is the reason that they are leaving. At least for most as it has been stated.
So what are the implications for the President’s bid to get re-elected in 2024. I am still not convinced that the Democrats want Joe Biden as their poster boy for President of the United States, except for the fact that Joe Biden is really not running the country. He is a mouthpiece for the Biden Administration in name only. An administration that is double the size of the last two presidents combines. Even the interns turned on Biden over the Israel/Hamas war position, and that should be scary as all get out.
There’s an old adage that goes like this. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’m not sure that is current anymore. While this country has run amok before, it sure hasn’t run this far off the track, what with the almost acceptance of anti-semitism by universities, etc.
I’m not inferring any call to action here but I am suggesting that America needs to wake up in a supposedly already woke society.
I would have peferred the article to appear so you could see the joy and jubilation of these men and their families, nevertheless, you can copy and paste the https: stream and see the full article for yourselves.
I can tell you as both a prisoner in Stateville and a student/employee at Northwestern University, it is a million miles from Stateville to graduating from NU and these men deserve all the credit for having done so, and Northwestern University deserves all the credit for making it possible.
It means exactly what I thought it did. When one must commit oneself to an action or decision. Thomson, here taking a coffee break from the corner of the room opposite my new work quarters. That’s right I got hired this morning at my new job, Chief Marketing Director and Lead Sales Manager of Thomson Home Emporium.
Chiefly, I am listing all my wordly possessions on EBAY. San Francisco Bay, Montego Bay and any other bay I find to sell my wares. I am coming out of 18 years retirement and functioning as a full fledged worker in the work force.
I recently came into possession of many collectibles and vintage knick knacks and pally wacks and chicken got a bone. And while listing all of these items, what the heck, why not get rid of these books as well.
In making my move from a lackadaisical life on the porch to productive citizen something had to succomb and it looks like its Facebook. I spent the weekend gearing up for today by not posting much of anything and came out of that unscathed.
It recently came to my attention just how long I have been writing Fingerprints of God, 12 years!!! A man went to prison at the time I began the book and he just got out after 12 years, so there you have it.
Ebay currently has a sale of sorts where by you can list 200 items before October 1st free. You already know, I go to hop to it. I only have 194 more items to go before I reach that goal. See you in the Spring.
Thomson's Home Emporium 