Gothamist: Half New Yorkers Struggling to Pay for Groceries, Study Finds

ANGRYGOD11

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:53:29 -0500

RE#48: The jobs aren't going anywhere. There is simply less work and much more unemployment nationally. To my knowledge there aren't any real boom states right now. People may be moving around to find work, but that doesn't mean they are finding good, permanent jobs. It wasn't too long ago I knew too many people leaving NY for places like North Carolina, but that's not happening with rising unemployment everywhere.

NannyState

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:58:22 -0500

High taxes, high rents. The twin devils of NYC that are killing away everything that was once great or merely even good about this city. That so many here are struggling to stay fed is beyond belief.

Shinobi Shaw

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:44:19 -0500

The economy is fucked, there are NO jobs in the real economy and as such people are leaving the low tax states to the higher tax states (like NY) and then they come here only to find that the job market here is also fucked. And the thing is, the Food that most people can afford is GMO food full of toxic chemicals and pesticides. People can't even pay for clean organic food and forced to eat GMO foods due to the fact that Organic is more expensive.

Gothamist_Cynic

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:03:24 -0500

proposes=proposals

Gothamist_Cynic

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:03:04 -0500

#35 so you're saying man-made pollution has no effect on the climate? right... hey guys you don't have to live in manhattan to live in NYC. paying high rent is a choice. you don't have live paycheck to paycheck. use your brains morons. anyway these new tax proposes suck and will fuck new yorkers and nyc. the reason these fucks in government and the mta are getting away with it is because no one is doing shit about it. everyone is fucking complacent.

TKaisen

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:01:16 -0500

People are leaving low tax states like Nevada because the jobs are going. Then where are the people or the jobs going? They sure aren't opening new businesses here since we've pretty successfully chased every business not located in Manhattan out of the state.

ANGRYGOD11

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:56:39 -0500

As bad as things are here, it's not really good anywhere else. People are leaving low tax states like Nevada because the jobs are going. You want a prosperous low tax place to live? Go to Dubai.

Trilby16

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:01:38 -0500

Drewo- yeah, so-so security is a huge rip. And unaffected by your deductions. And what's the deal with the cut-off? That's where they should START collecting it. Food costs too much. I spend a long time at my supermarket looking for bargains, and then my idiot husband guzzles a gallon of milk like we're made of money, and buys 6-packs of Bud light for 9 bucks! Nine bucks! So I figure my spending in 6-pack-units which are equal to 9 dollars. Example: I bought an pedomter for less than 3 6-pack-units. I have some secret money socked away but laughably little.

Shinobi Shaw

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:47:13 -0500

#35 don't be ignorant, MAN-MADE climate change (of course, now they have to re-branded from Global Warming, since we are actually heading towards Global Cooling) is a hoax. Climate Change is a natural occurrence of Earth weather patterns, it's not man-made. Yes, we need to scale back on polluting the earth, but climate change is not caused by man. They are using that as a tool to TAX our endlessly over carbon emissions and to control your way of life. Perhaps you will change your mind when you're being tax for the air you breath in 4 years.

whitecastlerock

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:43:51 -0500

Reading these posts is making me hungry, but the only thing I can afford is something off the dollar menu at McDonald's. Now that I am on the topic, why the hell do they call it the dollar menu in Manhattan when there are only 3 items that sell for $1???? Corporate greed cashing in on poor slobs like me... See you on the bread lines folks-wait bread is still $4 a loaf!

Politburo

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:25:19 -0500

"I've no doubt Arizona state government can be as wasteful as any other. Arizona does have a few problems unique to some other states, like Florida and Nevada..." Nevada is 49th, Florida is 47th. So then it does appear to be a coincidence that some of the states with the biggest problems also have high taxes, doesn't it? (Also, something cannot be "unique to some other states". The term you're looking for is "in common with". /pedant)

Reflect

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:13:29 -0500

im glad i didnt listen in school. Ive lived most of my life fine without a degree. I knew those subawy adds were bullshyt. I am sucess already, and you cant give anything i dont already have. Go fuck yourself berkley your stupid unconfident hoe to sucessful confident hoe commercials dont fool me!

TKaisen

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:55:51 -0500

There really should be some regulation. Paying over $2k for a one-bedroom apartment is just ridiculous. It makes it impossible. There is regulation... which screws with the supply & demand of open-market apartments... which contributes to rent-prices.

drewo

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:41:30 -0500

What about Arizona, which ranks 41st in tax burden. They've got 1.2 billion hole (10% of budget, compared to NY's 13% and CA's 14%) I've no doubt Arizona state government can be as wasteful as any other. Arizona does have a few problems unique to some other states, like Florida and Nevada, with a massive logjam of unsold, or foreclosed homes. Arizona has also had to pour money into border patrol operations. How many of us would feel better about our financial situation if we had been able to keep all the money that's been devoted to Social Security? We have been told, in so many words, not to plan to receive that money when we are retired. This is your government at work. Ostensibly to assist you - in reality to line their own pockets, and then walk away.

Wza

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:22:26 -0500

Yeh man..it's tough out here. Sad news to hear how people are struggling like that.

schadenfreudian mensch

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:20:14 -0500

Ditto. Rent is my biggest expense monthly, then comes the food and I hardly buy clothes.

SP

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:18:26 -0500

"There really should be some regulation." No fucking shit sherlock. It used to be called rent control and rent stabilization, something that greedy republican loving landlords and developers have been fighting tooth and nail to eliminate.

WorksInDUMBO

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:11:24 -0500

Taxes are high, yes--but the RENT is what really makes it difficult to get ahead here. There really should be some regulation. Paying over $2k for a one-bedroom apartment is just ridiculous. It makes it impossible.

SP

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:06:18 -0500

"'CLIMATE CHANGE' (a hoax [...])" Tell that to the polar bears you fucking imbecile.

Politburo

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:59:12 -0500

"It's no coincidence that the states with the biggest budget problems are the ones with the highest taxation." It isn't? What about Arizona, which ranks 41st in tax burden. They've got 1.2 billion hole (10% of budget, compared to NY's 13% and CA's 14%)

Shinobi Shaw

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:49:27 -0500

Don't worry folks, it's going to get WORSE! When they start taxing you for downloading music, for over eating, for being overweight, and soon with the advent of "CLIMATE CHANGE" (a hoax to tax the hell out of the masses) they will even tax your carbon emissions and even breathing. Maybe THEN will people realize that the LEFT-RIGHT paradigm is a FRAUD and that nothing will change under them?! When are the people going to stand up for their rights? What? When they are taxed to death and can barely even live a decent existence?

TKaisen

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:47:28 -0500

Cashiers and stockboys are not the root of the problem here, it's taxes, corruption, and greed. I never said that cashiers and stockboys are the root of the problem. I said high cost of labor was a contributing factor to groceries in NYC being more expensive than everywhere else. If you think cashiers in the city are being paid the same money as a Wal-Mart cashier in Syracuse then I don't know what to tell you. And, for the record, Google suggests that Gristede's Labor is represented by the Retail, Wholesale & Chain Store Food Employees Union, Local 338 located here. Nearly all labor in New York City, from retail employees to doormen, is organized.

JenChungsBra

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:30:14 -0500

I'm not exactly having trouble paying for groceries, but my bi-weekly supermarket bill has gone from ~$120 to ~$160 in the last year. And I'm buying less fancy stuff than before. I don't mind paying a fair tax to have street lights, garbage pickup, park benches, hospitals, FDNY, etc. -- I've seen places that have low taxes and no services and I like NY better. I don't even mind contributing to welfare and food stamps and medicaid for the poor. It's the waste and corruption that drives me crazy. And the shitty schools. Why does the public school system in this city suck so much? The wife and I are seriously thinking about grabbing a super-low rate mortgage on a foreclosed house somewhere like Delaware and just leaving.

drewo

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:26:33 -0500

#5 and #8 are spot on - it's taxation that will eventually crush this city and state. It's no coincidence that the states with the biggest budget problems are the ones with the highest taxation. Folks will be leaving NYC due to excessive taxation (especially the newly unemployed) - why pay more for no, or less, services? As will businesses who can set up shop elsewhere. Our so-called leaders have to apperar to be doing "something" (otherwise, let's get rid of them). So the only thing they can do is raise taxes and claim all New Yorkers have to "share the pain". And we all know that politicians, well above and protected from the fray, will not share the pain. #8 is correct - Coke and Pepsi (otherwise known as Democrats and Republicans) will never alter the landscape of excessive taxation. It's worked for both parties and their syncophants for too along - and the Media will never dare question it, because it works for the Media too. It's the rest of us who get screwed.

JacqueMehoff

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:26:03 -0500

I was a working student and to supplement my food budget we went on shopping sprees during off hours. more stuff went out the back door than the front. oh, the days before surveillance cameras were everywhere. cases of Kit Kat was my weakness.

QM

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:24:23 -0500

ugh, i wish there was an edit button.

QM

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:22:55 -0500

The bottom line is that stockboys and cashiers in nyc do not make 3 or 4 times what of what somebody working in wal mart earns. And even if they were, it's pretty shortsighted of somebody to blame them for NYC being too expensive as a whole. Cashiers and stockboys are not the root of the problem here, it's taxes, corruption, and greed.

jackdonaghy

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:13:54 -0500

Yeah, I doubt that the cashiers/baggers are unionized. I'm generalizing here, but most of them are either young students working part time or immigrants.

SP

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:08:28 -0500

#18 - fine line indeed. I think your idea of "good rich people" is utopian.

JacqueMehoff

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:06:06 -0500

unionized cashiers? hardly. more like unionized butchers. Teamsters, etc. it's not worth it to pay the initiation fee to be in the grocers union. sure you get time and a half on sunday but that's if you get that shift. I believe most markets are not union shops. I was in the grocers union, their office was at 57th and seventh when I went there last over 25 yrs ago.

TK

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:02:59 -0500

QM - www.ufcw.org for one.

TK

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:57:46 -0500

Grocery stores have notoriously small margins. Thats why the bigger chains sell in-house, privately branded goods. Most grocers are not getting rich but are providing a service to their local communities. Anybody get surveyed for the study? I wonder what questions where asked and how it was worded. I want to kno what their definition of "need" is.

QM

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:57:27 -0500

unionized cashiers/stockboys? No such thing exists. And if it does, it is far from the norm.

TKaisen

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:51:17 -0500

wondering how people make it in this town. You need to come here with no debt at all and have a good job lined up to be on the same footing with the trust fund kiddies, I think. My GF and I have been considering getting out of here and working remotely until all the college stuff is paid off. We figure by putting rent money on student loans and other college debt we could have it all paid off within 4 or 5 years and then move back in debt free. I think it's nearly impossible to pay catch-up on old debt while paying for all the other expenses of living here. Can someone explain to me why items as simple as a can of soup or a box of cereal are over 100% more expensive here than anywhere else? If I had to guess -- a combination of transportation costs, unionized cashiers/stockboys/etc making 3 or 4 times what the same person at Wal-Mart would be making, city taxes, and rent for the space.

Brooklynbobby

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:42:19 -0500

Speaking of greedy landlords, my landlord stopped by last month to tell me he lost my rent check and asked me to issue another. I gave him the replacement check and then went online to my bank account to cancel the previous check. He had already cashed it!!! You can bet he got an earful from me.

neckbeard

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:37:29 -0500

i'd like to note... to me there is a fine line between rich and greedy. there are those who are rich because of good-intentioned, fair, and honest business and career decisions, and there are those that are rich due to fucking people over for the bottom line.

zodak

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:36:19 -0500

i buy my groceries at jack's 99¢

SP

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:32:17 -0500

Rocknrope, yes. All sarcasm aside, that is pretty much EXACTLY what's going on. The rich are getting richer, the poor getting more poor, the gap between widening.

whitecastlerock

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:31:16 -0500

Good points neckbeard and SP. Yes it does seem easy to blame taxes for all of the woes facing us today. Greedy scumbags also contribute greatly to this mess.

Rocknrope

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:27:32 -0500

50% are having trouble paying for food, eh? I guess the other half are the ones going to those $175/plate tasting dinners.

jackdonaghy

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:19:11 -0500

Can someone explain to me why items as simple as a can of soup or a box of cereal are over 100% more expensive here than anywhere else? I understand that the food stores have to pay rent, but $6 for a small box of Cherrios or almost $4 for Progresso chicken noodle? Even Quaker oatmeal is ridiculously priced.

SP

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:18:02 -0500

I agree with neckbeard. Unbridled capitalism got us into this mess. And those fucking assholes are laughing all the way to their offshore banks. Tax the rich. Throw them in prison for treason and seize all their property.

neckbeard

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:12:13 -0500

i like you all blame taxes. lets try blaming your greedy bosses that would rather expense lunch every day than pay you what you're worth. lets try blaming greedy landlords that charge exhorbant amounts for rent causing super markets, restaurants, bodegas etc. to charge so much for food to cover costs.

whitecastlerock

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:05:41 -0500

I find some morbid comfort in the the fact that there are others struggling like I do. Everything seems to be imploding all at once, taxes, the mta, the job market. I would rather shove my shoe up some of these idiot's asses...

starrygordon

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:58:22 -0500

Well, running the world is very expensive. Surely our great leaders can't be inconvenienced by having to pay for it. So you have to. Enjoy all those guns and bombs you bought, folks!

Armchair_warrior

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:57:34 -0500

if you guys really want change vote for any party besides the two party system. you'll be taxed to death before they change.

MT

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:55:22 -0500

I was just having a major freak out moment last night all over my boyfriend wondering how people make it in this town. I make a really decent living compared to the majority of people and somehow I still live paycheck to paycheck. It's as frustrating as it is depressing. Somedays you just feel like there is no way out from under. It's not like I live a lavish lifestyle. I hardly ever go out and I never buy myself new clothes. Life is one big austerity program and getting worse all the time.

felixthecat

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:50:22 -0500

#gossipgirl, I just eat less now. no more starbucks, no more desserts, no more comfort food. I think it is time for me to live only on miso soup. damn, I hate Bloomberg and Quinn. I worked over 65 hours a week with no overtime pay and most of the wages go to taxes, can't stand it anymore. too much corruption in NYC. i think we should all riot as in Athens.

FrankMartin

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:46:31 -0500

It is crazy how much things have jumped in price. but i have also noticed a drop in quality, for produce esspecially. Rotten onions and potatos, I can't remember that in my 38 years. On the new tax note it is worth pointing out that the two states with the biggest financial problems have the highest taxes, NY and CA. Or so i read yesterday. Read up on the taxes introduced in Britain in the early 80s. Crushing and longterm economic effect

gossipgirl

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:42:14 -0500

I am trying to cook less expensive meals.

QM

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:41:49 -0500

And Paterson wants to levy consumer taxes & the Mta is raising fares. I'm starting to think that NYC won't even exist as it does today in another ten years. I hope Staten Island does secede. Not because I don't like Staten island (even though i don't), but because I feel like it would be a catalyst for many more much needed changes in this city.

JacqueMehoff

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:31:14 -0500

I'm back to eating ramen noodles.

edEx

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:26:22 -0500

I have a good job and after all my bills, I find it hard to pay for the ever increasing food prices. It sucks!