Thumbking

As this is a hot topic daily, not only in the stock markets but everyone's personal and professional life, how do you feel right now in the current economic climate?

How is it affecting you personally, do you have family or friends affected by it(job cuts), what about your neighborhood? Things like that.

I would also like to know if people personally notice if units they purchase now days are the same size in packaging but have less product in them?

For instance, a bag of chips, it will still be it's normal weight in grams, say 60grams, but when you pop the bag open, there is maybe 10-15 chips in the bottom... things like that.

Have you noticed any food or beverage products use the same packaging but there seems to be a bit less product there.

We know that the employment #'s are bad, so let's not debate that, as it is not pretty and a very unfortunate situation for a huge number of people now.

What makes it even scarier in my eyes is that even the people that still have jobs are getting less then what they used to for the same amount of money.

But in reality, it's because the buying power of said money(sum), has decreased so therefore so does the amount of product for said price, to account for this.

It may not be the most interesting topic on everyone's minds on a friday night, but I use time like this to catch up on reading and I must say that it is very scary at how things are looking for the future.

What are you thoughts? please share.

AdPatron

A year ago what great, cheap stocks. Apple more than doubled.

Thumbking

Right, it did, they had a great run.

They also do business in and trade in the same currency I speak of that seems to be "getting less for it's money".

So in a theoretical question, do you sell now and invest in emerging markets or stay in the USD? Hoping that a the Apple stock outperforms the mild symptoms of inflation, or "less bang for your buck"?

mayabong

The economy is a crazy thing so hard to understand. All I know is that the fed keeps printing money and that can't be good. Since its a private company not a part of the government, who knows what they are doing.
Hoping for the best though.

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Bossman

I think alot of people are overreacting, which are causing the economic problems to be worse. Unless your business is the size GM etc., then its still possible to grow in a slowing or even shrinking market. Its called opportunities, and it happens every moment, when things changes - and with all the changes taking place, then the amount of real opportunities are more than during the boom

The world is not standing still while waiting for the outcome, it moves on...

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Domain Diva

I agree with you on brands putting less and less in thier products but leaving the bags/boxes etc the same size (although if it says 60g it will contain 60 grams)

Im not sure if this is just greedy profit taking kicking in more than anything...as I have noticed this trend for a number of years.

Its also funny to open some of those big bags/boxes of some food items and find they only needed to be about a quarter of the size package they came in ....

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Thumbking

True enough, but since these problems were created by abuse, those opporunities evaporate into thin air by "tightened" regulations, which in turn raise cost's for small business' until they are forced to lay people off or the strangle them right out.

The big ones have the money and resources to be up to date on regulations etc. and because the small guys can't they are now more dominant and have more marketshare by default.

Thumbking

Yeah, I know, I always wondered if they just cut the size of the package wouldn't they save there too. If you got a good product ppl are going buy it.

kane

I was out at some stores today getting some stuff for my Super Bowl party. At one grocery store the cashier knew my buddy and they were talking. She told him that the store has seen a huge uptick in people buying the store brand stuff and less sales of the name brand food. She also said that thing like their hot deli were hurting bad from it because people aren't spending $5.99 for a pound of fruit salad or $6.99 for a pound of lunch meat instead they are buying cheap bologna.

I also went to Costco and was shocked at two things. First was the sheer number of people. The place was packed. Second was the amount of free samples. They always have a few free samples, but today they must have had 10 or more booths. When I asked why there were so many they said they had been doing that for a few months now to help promote some products.

Thumbking

Ya, great point on the sample booths, before it was easy to sell product as people weren't as cautious with their hard earn money. Now they are though and all the "trendy" / lifestyle sorta things are struggle as their target market fell right apart. The early guys in those are laughing, the band wagon jumpers are going bankrupt.