the shrinking of america

All we hear these days is that the national debt is getting humongous, but there are counter-developments on the consumer front, which folks don’t mention too often. Here is an introductory example:

In 2002, Nestle insisted on a smaller container to increase profits and so the standard US Half 1. Gallon (2 Quarts) container (1.89 L) was down sized to 1.75 Quarts (1.65 L) container. In May 2008, the 1.75 quart container was further down sized to 1.5 quarts (1.42 L). Other ice cream manufacturers followed the down sizing move.

en.wikipedia.org...'s

But have the other ice cream churners really followed the suit?
Seeing is believing . . .
consumerist.com...

Yes, there seems to be a tendency to make things smaller – and charge for them as if the size didn’t change. That’s good for the Consumer Price Index, which is very much related to inflation figures.

There are other tricks that help to keep the inflation down, like replacing good ingredients with crap while keeping America lean as possible.

Have you noticed those cheap banquet t.v.dinners are getting worse and worse? Or is it just me? They are getting bad really nasty tasting now its such cheap food and the portions get smaller and smaller.

answers.yahoo.com...

I like this line from the same source:

Yes. The cardboard tray probably costs more than the food in it and probably tastes better too.

Not all corporate America takes advantage of the fears that the ballooning national debt spreads around. Some companies, like Philip Morris, downsize their products, but the goodies remain the same:

The mini cigarette allows smokers to smoke their cigarette much more quickly than regular sized ones, but it still delivers the same amount of nicotine as the full-size version.

www.clevelandleader.com...

That’s why Obama punished the tobacco industry with his executive order to hike the tobacco tax, coz Phillip Morris hinted with Marlboro 72's that the government can spent less but accomplish the same.

Some say that size doesn't matter; what you can do with it counts.
I think that there is not much you can do with TV dinner that sucks and the portion is too small, but follow the traffic signs.
4.bp.blogspot.com...


[edit on 8/9/2009 by stander]

This has been going on for decades. As I recall it, it began with candy bars that started to lose weight. They were sold with cardboard trays that remained as big, while the candy bar itself kept getting smaller. The number of sticks of gum went down, while the price remained the same.

Now it applies to all sorts of things - mostly candy and dessert-type stuff. Yeah, and I guess TV dinners, though I stopped eating those years ago because the quality was so poor.

I don't see this as a way to hide inflation. I see this as a way for greedy corporations to save on expenses while continuing to squeeze money out of us. We might balk at a price increase of our favorite candy bar. But most of us won't really notice a slight drop in its weight.

Ah...my favorite gripe!!!

Went to get a 99c bag of chips recently...it about floated out of my hand!

Same price...went from 4.25 oz to 3.5 oz...pretty soon it'll just be a bag of air and then they'll raise the price for the plastic bag!

Don't even get me started on Little Debbie Snacks!!!

Originally posted by chiron613
I don't see this as a way to hide inflation. I see this as a way for greedy corporations to save on expenses while continuing to squeeze money out of us.

Inflation is detected by increase in prices. So when you need to squeeze additional $1.50 out of one gallon of milk that you sell for $3, you hike up the price to $4.50. By doing so, you run into competition. So if you down size, the price remains the same but there is less product sold. That means when the government surveys retail prices to assemble the Consumer Price Index that measures inflation, it cannot see that smaller packages. And so the government publishes the CPI, the market takes notice and sends the Dow still higher on the good news that inflation is being kept low.

Everyone is concerned about Goldman Sachs, but most of the US corporations work in similar manner, but smarter, coz no one notices them.

It's like this with toilet paper. The double rolls are now the size of what single rolls used to be. The mega rolls are the size of what double rolls used to be. The cost of toilet paper has more than doubled.

A couple of months ago I noticed that a White Castle hamburger would probably give my quarter pounder with cheese a run for its money size wise. I'm still trying to figure out how they get a full quarter pound of beef in that little tiny
bun.

edit to star and flag

[edit on 9-8-2009 by Sundancer]

Originally posted by Jessicamsa
It's like this with toilet paper. The double rolls are now the size of what single rolls used to be. The mega rolls are the size of what double rolls used to be. The cost of toilet paper has more than doubled.

That only tells you something about the greedy corporate America that doesn't care at all that we're actually in deep sh*t.

It looks that the only thing that is unlikely to shrink its size are condoms -- and I'm not even sure about that.

A major problem that I see is too much supply.
There are simply too many companies selling things.
This causes the consumers to spread the money out too thin across too many stores.
The price of having the store, paying rent, paying other fixed costs, etc. has stayed the same or gone up, but the sales are stagnant or falling.
Too many suppliers ultimately leads to a failure of the weakest suppliers and then a market consolidation.
For example, the businesses that are too leveraged and can't pay their debt in times of low sales will fail and leave the remaining market to the strong businesses that could withstand the downturn in sales. Then the remaining businesses will get back the sales and profits will follow.
Have you ever seen too many Subway sandwich shops in one area? They'll beat each other to death until a few bow out and leave the whole market to the remainders.
It is just natural for this to happen.
Soon America will once again be impressing even the lower classes.
The upper classes always love America.
It is the lower classes that blow like the wind.



Are you going to eat that last piece of chicken?

Originally posted by THX-1138
Are you going to eat that last piece of chicken?

The abundance of naive optimism paints the picture of the last piece, which can't be the last piece, coz there will be only one piece down from "two pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken" in the para jevar box.