Thanks, Michael. My first job out of College was selling Crisco for P&G in Watts. I used to load the stores up with the six pound pail of Criso, with handle, on the First of the month. Just in time for the Welfare checks.
From another "Blue" Blog, by Brad DeLong, Professor of Economics, 601 Evans Hall, University of California at Berkeley (BS, MA, and PHD from Harvarrrd)
More on the Walmart Index:
When Paycheck Is Low, Discount Retailers Have Pull: Living from paycheck to paycheck is the norm in the United States, economists say, and Wal-Mart's cash registers offer some proof of that. For more than a year, the retailer says, it has detected spikes in sales twice a month, around the 1st and the 15th, which is about the time that many people are paid. Visits to Wal-Marts around the country last week, at the height of the holiday shopping season, found many shoppers feeling squeezed - the Murphys on Long Island, the Dukes family in Georgia, the Lawrences and the Olsons near Seattle, and others as well.
''For many Americans, especially those with children who are living paycheck to paycheck, Christmas is seen as a time of financial crisis," said Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, an advocacy and education organization in Washington. "The group has grown as the result of rising unemployment and increasing consumer debt."
Though there are some signs that the economy is healing - in the form of bigger Wall Street bonuses, for example, and increasing corporate profits - income has remained mostly flat for many workers, leading to a discrepancy between gift-giving ambitions and what people can actually afford to give. "Even though you can point to improving economic indicators, one conspicuous omission from that list is wage growth," said Jared Bernstein, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute, a research group in Washington. "And that's where most working families meet the economy."
Mrs. Murphy said her husband used to work in Manhattan, where the pay is better. His job was across from the World Trade Center. On Sept. 11, 2001, Mrs. Murphy said, he saw the first plane hit, walked out of his building and never went back. Mrs. Murphy dresses in hand-me-downs and uses her birthday money from relatives to buy Christmas gifts. The Murphys' lone credit card always has an outstanding balance. Life has been that way since they married, five years ago, she said, and there are no signs that it will change anytime soon...
What I want to know: Was Walmart not looking for bimonthly spikes until a year and a half ago, or were the spikes in purchases not there until a year and a half ago?
Posted by DeLong at 09:12 PM |
