
Consumers Cut Food Spending Sharply - peter123
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123448606475780133.html
======
patio11
The spending is down about 4%, blamed on two factors: substitution from more
expensive to less expensive food sources, and people consuming food stores
(i.e. goods in pantry). The second has to be temporary for the obvious reason
(well, absent a return to foraging, I suppose).

Looking at their graph (alcohol sales down 10.5%, candies down 5.5%, veggies
up 2.3%) I'm left wondering if they didn't miss part of the story: people
aren't trading down within categories so much as they are reducing expenditure
on dietary non-essentials. Its not "I was going to have steak but I couldn't
afford it so I had burger", it is closer to "OK, I'm going to cut at the
fringe of the food budget that I eat primarily for gustatorial enjoyment."

~~~
jacoblyles
The expansions of the luxury market to include more and more of the middle
class was a major story during the 90s and 00s. I wouldn't be surprised to see
that reverse during the recession.

Who knows, people might even start shopping at Target for clothes instead of
expensive boutiques.

------
josefresco
Unfortunately this probably also means that people are buying and consuming
less organic and healthy foods, as they tend to be more expensive than your
highly processed crap. It probably also means that sales of fast food are
rising due to the perception that it's cheaper than a local family restaurant.

On a related note, I just dropped $100 for a Valentines Day meal for two at a
locally owned restaurant. Support your local economy!

~~~
tjic
> Support your local economy!

Why?

Seriously. This is the mantra of a certain sector of society, but why should I
discriminate against one perfectly good set of humans who live 100, or 1000
miles away, in favor of another perfectly good set of humans who live 1 mile
away?

This is reactionary, regressive medeival thinking.

~~~
josefresco
No it's not, however I used to have your line of thinking when I was
outsourcing programming to India. The way I look at it, your local economy is
just an extension of your family. Also, the people around you share many
resources and depend on each other for everyday life. I don't think it's a
solution that can be followed 100%, but when someone buys something on Amazon
for the same price as the local shop, they aren't doing themselves or the
local economy any favors.

This ties into national pride as well, and for me it all starts with the
family. Family>Friends>Town>Region>State>Country. Why do we care at all about
America if 100 Chinese are equivalent to 100 Americans? Caring for the people
around you is still very important because we still rely on physical realities
of being in the same geographic location.

