Re: the amazing Dow. Who cares when butter is $3 for 4 sticks.

[ourbluenation]

seriously - what does the huge Dow mean to me? And yeah, in Nor Cal butter is almost $3.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Have you bought tomatoes lately? $2.88 a pound

and I love tomatoes.

As conservatives blather on about the record, I ask, why did it take so long?

Check this out:

http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=161760

They have nothing to crow about (as usual.)

[VOX]

10. Excellent link, BH -- thanks for posting this!!!!!! n/t

[BOSSHOG]

15. My pleasure

Arm yourselves teammates, go forth and conquer the liars.

[tridim]

2. It's $3.00 per pound here when it's on sale

Closer to $4.00 when it's not. At least at the grocery store. It's much cheaper at Costco.

I'm not in the market because it's fixed and "regulated" by rich people with zero ethics. A huge Dow only makes these same people richer.

[Pierzin]

3. And Milk is sometimes $4 a gallon. Where is the outrage???

Everyone drinks milk. Most people like butter, but many don't buy it.

The MSM is controlled by the oil cartels, isn't it obvious?

[Fridays Child]

4. I's funny you should mention this.

I bought 2 pounds of butter, today, at $3.99 per pound, and I found myself thinking the exact same thing. The store brand was $3.49 but I've had a bad experience with it so I buy Land O' Lakes.

[butterfly77]

23. Yes, and their ice cream is the best...

[Sequoia]

25. Just go to Rite Aid and get Clover butter for way under $3.00

[Fridays Child]

27. Thanks. I'll have to see if there's a Rite-Aid around here.

I don't think I've heard of that chain being in Tucson but I can check. Nice that Clover Butter doesn't contain rBST, either. It seems like a pretty good brand.

[Sequoia]

28. Rats, I don't think so.

Northern California. They sure have great dairy products though.

[hang a left]

34. Land O Lakes is the best butter.

Don't skimp on good butter. Land O Lakes is hardly ever on sale though. I will by Challenge, Alta Dena, ect. I watch for the sales and then stock up.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. bush would strongly disagree with you.

[Kurovski]

6. Yep, to hell with the freakin' Dow.

It costs me $250.00 a month to keep my home cold in the winter.

That's right, over 200 smackers and the joint is still cold.

I have to go out of town to get soymilk that costs under $4 for a half-gallon.

I now must buy ONLY sale item food in order to keep my budget manageable.

The shovelers of all the happy horseshit can go take a flying leap up Dick Cheney's cavernous ass.

[renate]

36. do you live near a Costco?

I read last year that heating your home with electricity was, for the first time, cheaper than heating it with gas because of the high gas prices. I assume that this year won't be much different, so when I saw electric heaters at Costco today I got one.

It's shaped like a parabola so it can aim the heat right at you--you don't have to pay to heat the whole room--and it really is amazing. In front of it, you're as toasty as a chicken in a rotisserie--two steps to the left or right, and the temperature drops a lot. So it really does focus the heat and gives you a lot of bang for your electricity buck if you're just sitting in one place. If you're moving around the room it wouldn't be the best heater, though.

[Kurovski]

37. It is electric heat.

Electricity in Washington went up an enormous amount in the past few years. And we have hydropower, not natural gas plants!

It happened before I recently moved here and people here have blamed Enron's machinations for the rise.

But that heater sounds pretty good, I'll check on it.:hi:

[hatrack]

7. How about $4.50 for a bag of freakin' Tostitos?

I mean, Jeez Louise, they used to be $2.75 less than a year ago.

Did we suddenly devote all our corn production to the wonder-fuel that is ETHANOL?

[deaniac21]

8. We've been having to pay $15.50 per pound for Porterhouse

cuts.

[hang a left]

35. Wow!

You are getting ripped. You can buy good porterhouse here in So. Cal. for 9-10$ a pound not on sale. I always wait for the sales and will buy 10-12 pounds and put it in the freezer. Otherwise we don't have steak.

[deaniac21]

39. I can only eat it if it's fresh.

[ourbluenation]

9. I'm glad I'm not the only one who this great economy is not so great

for. I mean, I'm not glad you all are in the same position as me - I wish you were all so fabulously wealthy that you didn't care that butter was $3 a lb - oh hell...you know what I mean.

My s/o and I bring home about $90K a year and we can barely make it to the end of the month. We own out house, we have two cars and one's paid for, and we don't have much debt but goddamit, I think this economy sucks.

Why do people think it's so great?

and again - does the Dow have any impact on a non-investor? Any finance folks out there?

[thingfisher]

19. The stock market

is used by the media to assure America that all is well. It's good to know that you see through the bullshit.

The wealthy elites (politicians, hollywood stars' mad scientists, economists, etc.) don't even know or care what a few sticks of butter cost. Like so much of American synthetic culture we are encouraged to sit in the bleachers and root for the stars on the field as if they were some kind of avatar of our better selves! When wealth is only measured by last months bottom line we cannot expect to live in a society that values the quality of life for the majority of its citiezens as a real economic indicator. Remember, you are only worth the amount of money you can spend.

Capitalism is a deeply flawed system that has enabled the overthrow of our republic in the name of freedom, democracy, and free trade. Welcome back to the future. It used to be called the "Guilded Age".

[KurtNYC]

11. They rotate losers out of the Dow so it should be breaking

its own meaningless record all the time!

If they still used the Dow stocks that were used 10 years ago it would be any where near a record.

edit to add:

On November 1, 1999, Chevron, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Sears Roebuck, and Union Carbide were removed from the DJIA and replaced by Intel, Microsoft, Home Depot, and SBC Communications. Intel and Microsoft became the first two companies traded on the NASDAQ exchange to be listed in the DJIA. On April 8, 2004, another change occurred as International Paper, AT&T, and Eastman Kodak were replaced with Pfizer, Verizon, and AIG.

Source: Wiki

[brokensymmetry]

12. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Global drought is developing - that cuts food production,
hence leading to increased prices.

Ethanol from corn grows apace - pleasing to ADM, but
again making food more dear.

When Peak Oil hits - soon, in my opinion - getting
that butter, those tomatoes, or some Tostitos - will
be quite expensive.

I think we'll see the end of the cheap and abundant
food paradigm during this decade. Let's hope I'm
wrong.

[survivor999]

13. Caviar too has gone through the roof!

:)

[Richard Steele]

14. Our food bills have soared OUTRAGEOUSLY the last few years.

Even after I adopted a philosophy of avoiding the priciest
luxury foods, buying "store brand" whenever possible,
and stocking up on most things ONLY when they're on sale,
it's still about 75% higher than 3 years ago, and still climbing.

IIRC, B*shCabal™ has dealt with this problem by simply
no longer including FOOD in the formula to calculate
the inflation rate.

[Hippo_Tron]

16. Republican policies = wages not increasing with inflation

If the minimum wage were raised and indexed for inflation then all wages on the lower end would have to go up as well. Republicans of course don't want this because it's a burden on those poor giant corporations.

[AlienGirl]

17. Butter shortage...

At least we can still get onions.

Tucker

[Skidmore]

18. And the loaf of bread is about $3.00 also.

Six bucks for bread and butter sandwiches. Ten if you want to make peanut butter sandwiches. Add a coupl more dollars for grape jelly if you want PBJ. About $4 for a package of bologna. Poor people's food has just achieved gourmet prices.

[Horse with no Name]

20. I generally buy the generic Motrin

Before the economy got so good, about 4 months ago, a bottle of 100 tablets cost $1.97.
Went yesterday to buy another bottle, and it is now $2.97.
I'm really glad that someone is making money in the stock market.
My 401k is making a piddly 0.078% interest. I could probably do better in a passbook savings account.
My granddaughter likes chocolate milk. A few months back, the syrup cost $0.97. It is now up to $1.49.
When every single item that you buy routinely increases...in what only seems a few cents here and there, that is what I look at.
I am NOT doing better. We are cutting back everywhere, robbing Peter to pay Paul. This months gas prices are cheap, but have to save for next month because you know that after the election they won't be.
In fact, they will be charging us next month for what they gave us this month.
So ask me if I give a crap that the Dow is up.
It doesn't change my life one bit.

[JVS]

21. Margarine $0.59/ lb

[Balbus]

22. Not to get off topic, but where the hell do you all shop at??

You might need to find a different store! I was at Safeway just last night and paid $1.89 for a gallon of milk, $2.50 for a bag of tostitos, $.99 a pound for tomatoes, and $1.79 for a loaf of Aunt Hatties sandwich bread. I don't eat butter so didn't look at those prices.

[JVS]

24. Yeah I have to agree. I have a hard time crying for those who are...

complaining about expensive steaks when I live on ground turkey for $1.50/lb.

Cut down on the luxuries, people!

[Kurovski]

26. There is only one store in my small town.

I shop at Safeway when I can get to town (Mount Pilot);-) once a month. Also grocery outlet, where the prices are at least half as cheap, but the trade-off is that you never know what they'll be carrying.

And you are talking about sale prices on some of those items, aren't you? I know safeway doesn't sell tomatoes for .99 a Lb regularly. Not even the orange, unripe, flavorless and nutritionally-deficient hard jobbers.

Soymilk is no more a luxury than milk is.

[hang a left]

30. That has got to be a sale price butter.

In Southern California you pay 4.00 or more for a good pound of butter that is not on sale. You spend over 3.00 for a good bread not on sale. I don't buy milk treated with hormones so if I buy it in the regular market it is close to 5.00 a gallon. If I go to Henry's I pay 6.00 for 2 gallons. Those tomatoes you have purchased were on sale. Tomatoes haven't been on sale for about 3 weeks down here and they are selling for about 2.99 a pound.

I am a sale shopper because of the price increases in groceries over the past couple of years, then I will stock up on things like meat that will keep. However with fruit, we eat what's on sale that week save for bananas. Things I don't skimp on are good bread, Jif peanut butter, good coffee, ect and will buy those things if I am out and they are not on sale. However our menu at home is dictated by the market flyers for the week.

[catnhatnh]

32. It IS a sale price....

but here in NH I bought butter at 2lbs for $3 today...Milk is between 2.49 and 2.69 per gallon...ground chuck eye roast (previously frozen) for 2.29 per pound and top round steak for 3.19 per lb-though it was marked down to 2.23 per lb in this case because it sat in the case for 3-4 days...cheap deli canadian bacon at 2.99 per lb and Stella brand gorgonzola cheese at 4.99 per lb....the flip side of lousy wages is we get cheaper prices for staples....

[ourbluenation]

31. Now that is interesting...I shop at Safeway too. In Nor Cal and my milk

is never $1.89.

[sandnsea]

38. Oregon's had cheap milk lately too

$1.89 to $2.19 regularly. It used to be $3.19 all the time, I've got no idea what happened. Anyways, I agree with most of the food prices, they're outrageous if they aren't on sale. It is really hurting our budget and we can't eat cheaper food anymore, for health reasons. It's particularly annoying that some people sneer at you for requiring an expensive diet for health reasons, but don't realize cheap food is going to catch up to them one day too.

[Mugsy]

29. Perspetive: DOW is a mere 212 points higher six years later.

Six years after it's Clinton-era peak at 11,780 in January, 2000, the DOW has gained a mere 212 points.

Compare that to the rise in the DOW after Clinton took office.

[Imagevision]

33. Don't get too use to lower gas prices, it's over after 11/07/06 regardless

of which party is in power after elections.