NEWS: Feeling Poorer? Paycheck Not Lasting as Long? You're Not Alone.

CULTURE: Feeling Poorer? Paycheck Not Lasting as Long? You're Not Alone.

Why are people with annual salaries of $35,000 lining up at food banks? Why are more consumers cutting down on nutritious foods like milk and vegetables, and buying more of their "groceries" at 7-Eleven, rather than the supermarket? Why, when "overall" wage growth is a solid 4.1 percent over the past 12 months? According to economists, it's because that "overall" wage growth is mostly happening for "top earners," while people who make less than $30,000 a year (and in some places, more than that) are having a tough time keeping up with rising rent, food, and energy costs.

Grocery sales at 7-Eleven have surged between 12 and 13 percent in the last year, in response to steadily rising food costs, and the average family of four is spending about $40 more each month on grocery basics than they spent last year. They're also abandoning healthier foods for cheap, filling stuff like peanut butter, pasta, and hamburger meat.

Food banks are already finding themselves overrun by increased demand. One food pantry in Brooklyn has recorded an almost 70 percent increase from last year: 5,000 new families, on top of the previous 3,000.

If there's any silver lining around this ominous, dark cloud, it's that some of these food pantries are getting creative.

If you squint, you can almost kind of see it.

That's fucking great.
I started cooking my own food long ago to keep costs down, and it's just getting harder and harder.

this was a good article. it actually reported on something newsworthy, that's relevant to most americans, and this is a subject that's not really reported on that much.

It's like that stupid question, "Why is America so obese?" It's because junk food is cheaper than health food, and there are 50 million+ poor people to buy it.

Shopping at places like 7-11 for groceries seems a bit counterproductive to me. They usually jack the prices up a bit. Seems like you could have more money to spend on food if you shopped at the least expensive place rather than the most convenient.

I know I make roughly 25,000 a year and if I didn't live with three other people, I'd still be stuck living with my parents. I just can't afford the nessecities otherwise.

Yeah, groceries are really expensive there. I don't get that at all.

Yeah, there's no worst choice if you're having financial problems than walking into a 7-11.

I think it might be a matter of people's perceptions that drive them to convenience stores - i.e., it doesn't seem like you're shelling out a lot of money if you pay a dollar or two for a hot pocket or a hot dog, but if you do the math you're doing poorly in comparison to what you could buy at a regular grocery store for the exact same thing.

Another symptom of how this economy is fast going down the shitter. Inflation... just a myth right?

This is the snapshot of cash flow. You can save money buying at Costco, but poorer people can't afford the effect on their cash flow since they must also pay for utilities, transportation, etc.

Convenience stores offer a limited selection of specific higher margin products at a single transaction price that appears to help with cash flow; that is to say, less short term cash is required for the transaction..

I know i barely make it paycheck to paycheck.... its not just the rising cost of rent, food, and electricity but childcare and gas... its crazy. I make just under 30,000 and im a single parent of 2 kids. I usually have to get help from my boyfriend or my dad to make ends meet... and on top of that im a college graduate with my BA. Starting next month i have to start paying back my student loans... whoopee!

Maybe if i actually got child support i wouldnt be so stressed that ive been sick for the past 6 months.

sorry... bad day... had to vent.

I make around $30k a year and live on about 15 or 20% of my income. A good 80+% of things people spend money on are unnecessary. Healthy food is really not that expensive if you don't go nuts- a lot of the packaged and processed crap is far more pricey. I may be the cheapest person that lives, but it works for me- I eat healthy, I don't eat fast food, I don't drink soft drinks, I don't smoke, I don't use drugs, I drive a car that gets 40mpg, I don't spend money on status or frivolous crap... it's not hard to save money when you get over the whole status thing. If you need new clothes, don't go to the store that sells a friggin' t-shirt for $30, go to the Salvation Army and buy an entire wardrobe for ten bucks. If you want something expensive, save up and pay cash for it. This whole idiotic instant-gratification debt-society we have going here in America is a financial death wish.

That said, it sickens me how fast inflation is going up without any corresponding raise in American paychecks.

People are lazy and don't know how to manage their money. QUANDARY UNCOVERED. If you are shopping regularly for staples at a convenience store, you're pretty much retarded and it's not surprising you don't know how to live on 35 k a year. You are obviously not smart enough to know that you pay extra for the convenience store. If that were not the case, they would just call it a plain ol' store. Might I also suggest that people tend to think that having children is a god-given right, whether they can afford to take care of them or not. If you are somehow caught in between being shit poor (so the government will pitch in) and self-sufficient, you are exactly the person who needs to think hardest about where the money to take care of that kid is going to come from.

I've been living off pasta and homemade sauces from about three months now. I'm not in any particular hardship.

but then again,

I'm a single man who shares a house with 4 other people. Other than feeding my face and making sure I don't get sick - there really isn't much else to take care of.


It's the people with families that get the short end of the stick.

And by the way - it's one thing to chastise someone for having kids in an "inopportune" tax bracket.

it's another thing to actually try to help or educate them. I'm all for venting about the system. But those of us that have time to think, vote, influence, and volunteer to help such familes - should do so.

Honestly struggling parents KNOW that they are struggling - it's not as if they spend all their cash on dumb shit and wonder why the kids are out of diapers. Remember there are concrete systems in place in our country to keep poor people poor and wealthy people wealthy.

One example - Walmart did not become a multi-billion corporation by selling shit to wealthy Americans.

You do the math

meanwhile - i'm going to make sure I didn't forget any bills.

I'm seeing it everywhere, yet almost no elected official will talk about it, because they don't want to be accused of "class warfare." Personally, I'm rapidly coming to the point where I think we could use a little class warfare. The great bargain with the middle class has been broken, and the upper 1% are running away with 90% of the wealth growth. If this country's economy continues to decay, it won't be them left holding the bag, it will be the rest of us.

I should make bumper stickers that say "Let 'em eat cake"

AND

I should sell red hats and bandannas!

It's all very simple really:

Our money is fake with no standard. Therefore, due to credit expansion from banks, the Federal Reserve, and half a dozen other sources our currency is prone to high levels of inflation.

Also, boom and bust cycles, coming from the Clinton and Bush administrations (due to an expansion of credit) are devaluing our currency.

When new money enters the economy it first hits the financial markets, which explains why the wage increases are for top earners. Meanwhile the increasing inflation rates cause prices to soar, making it harder to live on $30k or $40k per year.

Great article. And I'm really pleased to see what that Church is offering. That is wonderful. There needs to be more...and the gov needs to get their shit stright and see what the ppl really need...not just bathe in their money increases

Agreed with the above comment and the prior ones regarding the economic folly of spending your grocery dollars at 7-11 and corner convenience stores. I've been severely underemployed for over a year now. When I started making too much money at my part-time temp office job my welfare benefits and food stamps got cut off. But I manage pretty well by cooking all my meals at home from scratch from organically grown wholesome grains, beans and produce. Bulk cooking oil goes a long way, and peanut butter in bulk and locally baked bread are the most processed foods I buy. I never get sick or go hungry. Everything I bring home to eat is vegan and it really is cheaper and more nutritionally efficient to eat this way. Occasionally I will eat dairy or fish if I go out to eat (once or twice a month, to a cheap restaurant) but I save money by cutting back on animal foods. If you buy bulk grains and fresh produce at a health food store you can feed yourself much more cheaply than by buying packaged (canned, instant, frozen, refrigerated and prepared) foods. Pasta is cheap of course but not as nourishing as whole grain brown rice.

If I really wanted to save money I would clear up that patch of scrappy back yard behind my urban apartment and start growing my own veggies.

It's sad that most people are so habituated to eating fast food and junk food, paying more for it out of their wallet and their health, when they could save money and eat better by switching to fresh, whole foods...

So ignorant, I honestly just don't know where to begin.

What do you suggest as a solution to the continuing disappearance of the middle class? Sounds like you're ready to require IQ tests and credit applications as a hurdle to procreation.

Exactly! I'm glad someone else is eating healthy.

While I agree with your dietary habits, I must say I am rather appalled at your financial habits. Please consider being a more productive member of society, not one who leeches off the effort of others.

I hear that. I make a little over 30k a year, and it is impossible for me to be able to live on my own on that. I have to live with mom, otherwise I'd be in the hole.

The American view of necessities is so skewed. Economically speaking there's a huge difference between our needs and our wants.

In U.S dollars the official amount that a person needs in one day to survive is approximately $1.08. So maybe we really don't have it that bad here.

Consider purchasing power parity. This means if you were to take a basket of goods in America that you could buy with $1, and then look at another country, and consider how many units of their currency (peso, yen, won, euro ect) it would cost to buy that same basket of good in their country.

Using this definition, if you were to adjust everyone's income in the world and consider the per capita income of each country, US tops the list.


Now consider the Human Development Index. This takes into consideration, Life expectancy (and health), Education, and other factors and cranks out a number. In terms of world ranking, where's the US here? Not number one but number eight.


So it makes you think, how are we spending out money. We as Americans should start to admit that we waste a lot of our money on things that don't even Improve our lives, and I'm most definitely not innocent of this accusation. It's just something to think about next time your slaving away at extra hours at a job so that you can pay for thing you may not need.

I'm amused by all the single 20 somethings who brag about how they never go hungry and never get sick on just a few dollars a day. The people that are most impacted by the problems discussed in this article aren't single people in their mid-20's, they are lower income families and especially lower income children. Sure, it's cheaper to buy bulk foods at your local health food store and then prepare everything from, scratch, but if you're a single mother with 2 kids who lives in a deep urban area, where to you find the time to bus across town to the health store and then prepare that food while working and taking care of your children. Many of us are fortunate enough to be in situation where we aren't adversely affected by problems that are very, very serious to others. Just because a problem isn't impacting you doesn't mean that you should dismiss those who are effected as stupid or lazy.

What about my financial habits? I am no longer on welfare or on foodstamps now, since I am employed (even if underemployed, due to inability to secure a permanent fulltime job). When I was collecting those benefits, I did so because I was unable to find a job and my state unemployment benefits and disability benefits had run out, and I needed to survive. Are you saying anyone who accepts government welfare is a leech? I can truthfully that I am an able-bodied adult capable of working who has seriously sought employment and found it nearly impossible to get hired anywhere. If I wanted to leech off society I would have faked a permanent mental disability and tried to get on SSI. I did not do that. As for my other financial habits, I have zero credit card debt at this point and owe no money to friends or family members nor have they had to bail me out with gifts. You might want to find out more about my actual lifestyle before making judgments based on inference and assumptions.