[IndigoMoon]

There was a piece on the news last night about parents taking their kids to thrift stores for prom outfitting. They interviewed several people in different areas and the universal theme was that it was because of high energy costs. They had to find ways to cut back on spending.

[mommy22]

Thanks, Drifter for this thread...I think these are important bits to be aware of, as we all move towards a new energy world.
My husband mentioned that the last few times that he's gone to the gas station, he's noticed even amounts on the sale amount....like exactly $20 or $30. As if people have only that amount to put in the tank, and can't afford to fill 'er up. He said he'd never seen that before.
Also, he works in the tire industry, and he said that there is a remarkably longer period of time now that people go before buying new tires. I imagine the retread business is booming, for trucks.
As I walked home from an appointment Friday, I noticed quite a few more backyard gardens than in past years...one household in my neighborhood had a little stand where he sold peppers. Well, he quadrupled the size of his garden...it now takes up most of his backyard.
Plus, I've seen an incredible amount of walkers, bikers, and scooters out and about recently.

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Drifter', 'V')arious California public schools around the state are raising cafeteria lunch prices by between .25 and .50 cents per lunch due to food and oil price increases. That's a pretty big price increase. This is going to hit poor families the hardest.

video link

[mommy22]

I heard that the amount of families qualifyinf for these meal programs have been going up...I wonder how the price of the meals will affect their school system's meals quality) and the availability to lower income kids. Also, will that put more middle class children on the borderline as to whether or not they can afford to eat lunch every day?

[kpeavey]

Drifter wrote:$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his is going to hit poor families the hardest.

[Graeme]

Hope this story is relevant, Drifter. Thought it was interesting in any case.

High food prices make oil sheikhs turn to farming

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou cannot eat petrodollars, which is an inconvenient truth for people in the oil-rich Gulf Arab monarchies these days.

Though state coffers bulge in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and other countries in the region after months of sky-high oil prices, soaring food prices have made many people there poorer than a year ago.

These desert nations have been hit especially hard because they have to import more than 80 percent of the food needed for their rapidly growing populations.

To break the runaway inflation that is fuelled by high food costs, gulf rulers have a new strategy: They are buying unused agricultural land in poor countries like Pakistan, Thailand, and Sudan, and becoming large-scale farmers.

[TheDude]

Great thread, Drifter! Don't have time to read it all at the moment but wanted to get in a kudos.

Gotta check out Graeme's story, too. Seems like there's a historical precedent.

[RedStateGreen]

Re: restaurants

My daughter and her boyfriend work at a very popular local restaurant chain. Even here in OK, where we have lower gas prices, lower cost of living and a still relatively strong housing market, there are still fewer and fewer people going out to eat. Her boyfriend's brother and his girlfriend work at Chili's, and they said that some days they're told to go home early because there aren't enough people coming in to justify them being there. Which is new; people around here love to go out to eat.

[oowolf]

I have spent the last 11 years walking the 6 miles into town. There has been a dramatic decrease in aluminum beer and soda can litter along the highway this year. Don't know if if less is being purchased or being saved to recycle.
When I no longer see rotting roadkill deer I'll assume people who kill them are taking them home TO EAT!

[Waterthrush]

The June 7 Saturday number of the New Jersey Star Ledger devotes 3/4 of its front page to energy shock stories: the lead on energy and the economy, a lifestyle article on teenagers and expensive gasoline, and an elegy for a columnist's pickup truck. The pain is not extensive yet, though - one teenager's adjustment has been to ride the school bus TWO days a week instead of never. More compromises to come! The pickup truck might stay parked as a nostalgia vehicle, I suppose.

Back to planting my fall root vegetables.

[catbox]

Just feeding the family is our main issue. But, we're on our way to producing quite a bit for ourselves...but still....we shop for food like anyone else and it's getting spendy! Good thing there is just 3 of us.

The one effect that has me not so worried.....hmmmmmm...which bike should I ride today?


catbox

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oowolf', '
')When I no longer see rotting roadkill deer I'll assume people who kill them are taking them home TO EAT!

[Troyboy1208]

What a great Thread. I will try posting some stuff from my neck of the woods as well

[kpeavey]

The streets around here are quieter. The days of the youths with giant subwoofers rattling the windows may be drawing to a close. What a relief!

[wisconsin_cur]

Ordered some stuff that was shipped by DHL (a smaller company but comparabel to UPS). In the past DHL has had a truck come out to the house. This time when the package got to the distribution hub (Rochester, MN) they took it to the post office and paid to have the post office deliver it to my home.

I found this very, very instructive. Sometime when I have a little more time I'm going to have to think about this as an emerging trend and the ramifcations thereof.

[idiom]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') rival of Jean-Claude Decaux, whose Velib are popular on Paris streets, Clear Channel Outdoor is bringing the biking scheme stateside.

[JJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Drifter', '[')b]Flat visitor season anticipated in Alaska

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')laska - With runaway fuel prices, it's somehow fitting that Jim and Wilma Fowler's Airstream Safari sports a green sign, "Alaska or Bust," on the back window of the 25-foot travel trailer.

The couple's friends were flabbergasted that they were driving 3,800 miles to Alaska from Oak Park, Calif., for a three-month trek in their son's adopted state. Still early in their sojourn, the Fowlers have put in 5,000 miles and paid $2,300 for the diesel fueling their Ford F20.

They're not broke yet, said Jim Fowler, 70, a retired aerospace worker. "It's getting closer every day, though," he said with a laugh at an Anchorage RV park. "It really hurts to have to pay that, but what do you do? We're not filthy rich, but we're lucky enough to afford to do this within limitations."

Alaska's tourism leaders anticipate more like-minded travelers to a state where summer visitors far outnumber its population of 640,000. But with burgeoning oil prices and the U.S. toying with a recession, Alaska tourism - the state's second largest private industry - would be lucky to break even with last year's record season, which saw 1.7 million-plus visitors who spent more than $1.5 billion in the state, according to the Alaska Travel Industry Association.

"I'm concerned. If we are flat overall, I would be pleased," said association president Ron Peck. "I hope we reach the same level as last year. If I'm wrong and we get above that, I'll be tickled pink. But I would not bet my next-born child that we are going to have an increase in visitors."

[Farknight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '$')600 Nascar weekend?! Sounds pricey.

[Arsenal]

I was in Bar Harbor Maine this past weekend and talked with a gas station owner. He told me the following.

1. He gets emails every day for pricing. current price is $4.14 for 87.
2. His price and the price of all the other stations is $4.19.
3. He bought a "unit" 5,000 gallons of gas for his station at $4.04 a couple of weeks ago.
4. After the credit card companies take their cut, paying for worker hours, lights, etc.. He is making about 1-3 cents a gallon or $50-$150 a unit.
5. If his supplier raises gas even 2-3 cents, his "profits" disappear and he is now forking over $100-200 out of his own pocket to get his gas.

This guy owns three stations and is selling tons of gas but is about to close down. Here is an interesting quote that he told me... "Have you ever heard of a business selling $20,000 dollars of merchandise and only getting $50 in profit or losing money and have it stay in business?"

Arsenal.