Mutiny on the Bounty

[BaalChatzaf]

I have a positive indication of how our economy is going into the crapper and that our money is becoming more worthless by the minute. It has to do with Bounty ™ paper towels. They are sold as rolls. I have noticed in the last couple of weeks that the Bounty rolls we buy are 1/8 narrower than they had been and they have ten fewer sheets. But the prices has gone up slightly. This is a bad sign! It means we are getting less product for a slightly higher price. Rather than keep the roll the same size and uping the price fully to indicate greater costs of production they are finagling the product.

This I take to be an ill omen and I expect more tricks of this kind in more and more common products we buy to happen.

Damn!

Ba'al Chatzaf

Edited January 7, 2010 by BaalChatzaf

[syrakusos]

[quote name='BaalChatzaf' date='06 January 2010 - 08:00 PM' timestamp='1262826055' post='87330' ... It has to do with Bounty ™ paper towels. They are sold as rolls. I have noticed in the last couple of weeks that the Bounty rolls we buy are 1/8 narrower than they had been and they have ten fewer sheets. But the prices has gone up slightly.

This happened in the mid-70s as inflation took its toll. Some discount brands disappeared entirely. Over the past 35 years, other brands have succumbed, but not so many at once and not so evidently. Look at laundry soap, for another example. When the Bailouts were announced in late 2008, I saw many retail prices jump by 20, 30, 50 cents whether $2.19 to $2.59 or $3.89 to $4.29, and so on.

The money supply from the Federal Government increased 142% in two years from Oct 2007-Oct 2009. The consequences were predicted.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Michael E. Marotta

[Alfonso Jones]

This would have been a slight bit more ironic if the product were toilet paper, but the US economy is clearly headed for the crapper.

Bill P

Edited January 7, 2010 by Bill P

[9thdoctor]

This old fussbudget has a good one about shrinking coffee cans, but I didn't find it on youtube. This will have to suffice:

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[Peter]

What a clever topic title, Mutiny on The Bounty.

The largest single shareholder at the company I worked for before retirement was Warren Buffet. He makes mistakes, but recently he was buying coal and a railroad to transport the coal. This is in spite of the theory of Global Warming and the Obama administration’s vow to shut down or deny the building of new coal fired electrical plants. I think he knew years ago that GLOBAL COOLING is happening and now, that Obama will only be with us for one term. I mention this just to give you a background on where I am coming from.

Nowadays they don’t print more dollar bills. They just push a button and a trillion dollars is deposited into an account to pay our nation’s debts. This is monetizing the debt and it creates inflation. Nixon and later Carter paid off the Viet Nam war, using this tactic and it caused terrible inflation.

I think gas prices have suddenly skyrocketed in our area by about twenty cents a gallon. Is the predicted hyperinflation beginning? Maybe. I don’t know. I do know inflation is a killer to people on fixed incomes.

Saving money in our system is also more expensive than it seems at first glance. Bank fees are augmented, and interest paid is lessened by inflation, because the savings interest rates lag behind the inflation rate. Most people have a sense of this, which accounts for declining savings rates up until very recently, and the growing interest in gold.

If I offered you five thousand dollars in cash OR five thousand dollars in gold and you could not touch it for five years, which would you take? What a great commercial line that is.

There is a truism that says, during inflation the rich get richer. They put their money in short term ventures and don’t lock in rates. Then in six months or a year, they reinvest to get the better interest return on the dollar. Imagine locking in a twenty percent five year CD with a bank, when you see signs that inflation is going away?

If a discount store like Wal-Mart is close, buy your supplies, like paper towels there, but factor in the price of gas and the price of your time.

Do you know what a Mormon closet is? Or the new term for urban survivalists, Preppers? A Mormon closet is a year’s supply of food always on hand. It must be foods you constantly eat so the food can be dated and rotated for freshness.

As Forrest Gump said, ‘S#%* Happens!’ Be prepared.

Semper cogitans fidele,

Peter Taylor

[BaalChatzaf]

This would have been a slight bit more ironic if the product were toilet paper, but the US economy is clearly headed for the crapper.

Bill P

I have not yet checked the toilet paper rolls. Next stop, count the sheets in my Charmin' ™. The result might not be charming at all.

Ba'al Chatzaf