36% of "disposable income" went to food ,energy, medical care (2007) highest in 48 years

[underpants]

Oh and health care costs have gone UP 78% since 2001

According to Merrill Lynch, at the end of 2007, “36 percent of consumers’ disposable income went to food, energy and medical care, a bigger chunk of income than at any time since records were first kept in 1960.”
http://thinkprogress.org/

Signs of the pinch are showing up everywhere:

—By the end of 2007, 36 percent of consumers' disposable income went to food, energy and medical care, a bigger chunk of income than at any time since records were first kept in 1960, according to Merrill Lynch.

—People are treating themselves less often. The National Restaurant Association says 54 percent of restaurants reported declining traffic in January, and the government says eating at home increased last year for the first time since 2001.

—Financial planners say that more than ever, parents are calling for advice on how to deal with grown children who have moved back in with Mom and Dad after losing a job or just to save money.

—Less trash is being set on the curbs of Mesa, Ariz., where surging home foreclosures are leaving more houses empty. That means fewer homeowners paying the city $22.60 a month for pickup. And William Black, the city's solid-waste management director, says people aren't throwing out as many appliances and bulk items, like furniture. They're sticking with what they have.

Nearly 9 million households now have upside-down mortgages, and for the first time ever, aggregate mortgage debt is bigger than the total value of homeowner equity — bigger by $836 billion, according to research by Merrill Lynch

One other interesting difference: In the downturns between the '70s and today, the baby boomers used their massive buying power to help spend the nation out of the slump. In the 1970s, they were too young. Today, they are focusing on retirement.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/WireStory?id=4508624&page=1

[Frustratedlady]

1. How fitting that so much can be told from our garbage, or lack thereof.

I believe the next crisis for us will be loss of operating and tax income for cities. We've already lost some, but I believe it will really begin to show up in this year's property taxes, sewage fees, school lunch programs and activity fees, etc.

When we lose homes from foreclosures, we lose a whole lot more.

Our infrastructure is already showing it. People aren't able to afford home repair, the streets aren't being resurfaced...we have so many potholes from winter, it's a car-killer to navigate them...the list goes on and on. Look around your city and see if you can spot changes. Progress has been shelved for now.

[underpants]

3. Medicaid/Medicare are teetering and water, drinking water, is lurking

If you haven't noticed Atlanta is almost dry..oh they privatized about 10 years ago.... just saying

[NMDemDist2]

2. "between the '70s and today, the baby boomers used their massive buying power...

to help spend the nation out of the slump. In the 1970s, they were too young. Today, they are focusing on retirement."


we all are realizing we have too much 'stuff' already. I don't know anyone who is buying more stuff.

Most everyone I know is 'cleaning out the closets, getting rid of the junk' and downsizing.

and the kids don't have the cash to spend, crippled by student loans and low paying jobs.

[JDPriestly]

4. AZDemDist6

How right you are. We don't want more Chinese junk. It's not just that we have what we want and need. It's that the quality of the products in the stores don't meet the wear and tear, smell and taste tests. Who wants the cheap trash that is being offered to us today?

Clothes are especially awful. Fabrics are uncomfortable. Designs are ugly. Sizes do not fit American/European body shapes. And it is getting worse and worse. It's cheap, cheap, cheap. And you never know whether some items is toxic, toxic, toxic.

[NMDemDist2]

8. so true! when I lived in Phoenix, I loved the thrift stores because it was "Grandma's stuff"

stuff that had survived years of use and had years of use left.

I can't remember the last time I bought something at a retail outlet. I look, but I don't buy. The stuff is overpriced and flimsy. One exception is cookware, but I am very careful and buy American made products.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

5. When you add in housing, utilites (including utilities our parents never paid for..ie cell phones,

internet, cable tv) how much income are people left with?

[underpants]

9. Yeah but unregulated competition will, some day, lower the cell phone and cable bills

some day

:sarcasm:

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Yeah, You Keep Telling Yourself That

Mr Freidmann!

The Professor

[Ikonoklast]

14. I got your deregulation right here, yo!

[chill_wind]

6. Rec # 5. Republicans are deadly to the economy.

and to the planet.

When will the other mindless half of this nation finally, finally *get this*?

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Merril Lynch Is Wrong

The records go back farther than that. They were kept by Commerce and not Treasury, and when T took it over, the publications just don't list them.

But, all that is still in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, every year. And, the disposable income absorbed by food, energy, and healthcare is the highest it's been since WWII, not just since 1960.
The Professor

[underpants]

10. Ok

thanks :hi:

The restaurant part actually surprised me. My wife and I know a lot of people who eat out every single night-they have found it to be as cheap (when you factor in time) as preparing food at home. I don't know maybe others are going back to the grocery store. :shrug:

[Lorien]

12. I cook nearly all of my own food now

and I used to eat out at least four times a week (not fast food-sit down restaurants). Now it's more like once or twice a month. I think I save about $500 a year by only cooking at home.

[w8liftinglady]

13. the people I know who eat out a lot are eating at the cheaper places now

6-7 dollar meals versus 15-20 dollar meals.

[underpants]

16. Me too

that is what I meant

Is it cheaper? :shrug: I know that they don't have hardly any food around their house.

[The2ndWheel]

15. Quite the reality cheap energy built

We could all be king's and queen's because we all have hundreds of slaves working for us in a barrel of oil(or any of the other resources). Everyone could have their own castle. Everyone could be carried around further than any princess or prince could ever dream of.

We better hope that we can harness the energy that regulates the planet. Sort of the way corporations wish to buy the government. That way, we get to screw the little guy(the rest of life that depends on their fair share of energy), and profit off of that death.

Or maybe we shouldn't hope for that.

Either way, there is no such thing as cheap energy. Never has been, never will be. We either pay for it economically, or, more importantly, environmentally. Although, like any good corporation, we make everyone else(the rest of life) pay for it first, while we build our gated communities and wait.