Shrink and Skimp!

I've been thinking about the economy recently. How it's not that good for the 'little' people, and how we small people have been really experiencing it, no matter what the officials and their numbers about the economy say (Here's an article from Big about this - Strikes and Bidenomics, it was republished as a shorter, but mostly the same, article on the Lever - The Missing Inflation Data). One of the things I've encountered a lot of is shrinkflation.

Shinkflation is something I think we've all seen (recent BBC article on it). The package of a product we want, say a breakfast cereal, gets smaller but the price stays the same. So we are actually paying more for the product, by weight or quantity measurement, but we supposedly don't 'see' that because the overall price is the same.

My favorite kind of ice cream... Now in a smaller package! Image from
reddit.

It's not easy coming back from the recent trauma of losing a son.
I've successfully navigated the first three stages of grief and have reached four. The need to return to doing the things I used to do. Hosting this Open Thread is one of them.

10/16 is World Food Day

~~ Red Potatoes

Unprovoked Attacks...
or
A Heaping Helping of Hypocrisy

Unprovoked attacks by Russia on Ukraine and now Hamas on Israel....kinda like Native Americans unprovoked attacks on white European settlers. The judge asked Dr. Mearsheimer this week about current western leadership and he replied that the young today lack empathy and a sense of history. Sadly people analyze these conflicts emotionally rather than rationally. In retrospect, was the US provoked to invade Iraq...or Libya...or Syria...or...

So let's see, rents and real estate prices out of sight and going further ever upward. Eight percent inflation over a year's time and the wages barely go up if at all.

Don't forget education and health care -- already unaffordable for many.

AI will take your job.

People clearing out of California because they can't afford to live there. It's actually like that in major big cities across the country -- anywhere big capital has bought up the real estate.

Afternoon folks!

Well, things have slowly improved with my daily limit on youtube, so there's more this week than last. Starting off there's an album by the great Otis Spann accompanied by Robert Jr. Lockwood, followed by a compilation of singles from the ridiculously obscure Young Jessie - make sure you listen through at least to hear his original version of "Mary Lou," which became a hit for the Steve Miller Band and also Ronnie Hawkins. There's a bunch of blues rock this week with albums by Mike Bloomfield and Dr. Feelgood and some country rock from The Flying Burrito Bros. There's an album by the harder-to-classify Spirit and we finish off with some UK electric folk from the Albion Country Band.

Enjoy!