Carol Stark: Sharing ideas key to surviving economy
3/16/08
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Listening to people who work in the newsroom moan about the economy is nothing new, no matter the decade.
Our problem is that, as a group, we are word people - not number people. We can describe our "poverty" with eloquence, but we can't seem to fix the problem that causes us all to live from paycheck to paycheck.
I don't think I've ever come across anyone in our newsroom - myself included - who had an extra dollar to spare the day before payday. Unless, of course, they had borrowed it from one of their kids that morning.
But lately, the tenor is growing more strident.
Five of us gathered around the lunchroom table the other day. Only one fellow wasn't eating leftovers. He said he didn't think he could bear another microwaved dinner. We eyed his $8.99 chicken salad with envy. We also knew his folly would drive him back to his frozen meals for the rest of the week.
It was the same day last week that gas shot up to $3.09, so we weren't in a particularly optimistic mood.
Then, we learned that Melissa Dunson, our business writer, was working on a story about food prices based on the latest prediction that food prices will go up another 3 to 4 percent this year, while cereals and bakery goods could jump as much as 6.5 percent in 2008.
In her story, which appears today on Page 1, Melissa delivers the really bad news. At one local bakery, glazed doughnuts have gone up in price from 44 cents to 58 cents.
Ah, a newsroom staple in peril.
And let's not forget our other food group - pizza. While gas prices are driving up some costs, the cost of wheat is hitting us right in the pepperoni.
Melissa reports that Rolf Wilkin, founder and owner of Eureka Pizza, a regional chain with 12 locations in Missouri and Arkansas, said the price for his ingredients has skyrocketed.
"The day of cheap food is over," Wilkin said. "We haven't seen such rapid inflation in food prices since the 1970s. Let's hope leisure suits don't make a comeback too."
Ha, funny guy.
I hope you read Melissa's story for yourself. We are planning several stories on the economy and how it is affecting you.
But we want to do more than just give you the bad news. Through a series of stories planned over the next several months, we'd like to provide you with some tools so you can make ends meet.
And, we want to hear your ideas.
If you have discovered a way to make the milk last longer, stretch the hamburger into a second meal, or get more miles to the gallon, please write or e-mail Melissa Dunson. She's at mdunson@joplinglobe.com. We'll try to work some of your ideas into our stories.
I read an interesting observation the other day from a columnist who didn't believe the economy was so bad - the problem was that we have become a society that wants too many things.
I buy that to an extent. No one at our lunch group has given up their cell phones, their Internet access or their cable.
On the other hand, many of those planning vacations say they will stay at home, or at least within the area. They keep looking for ways to get better prices on their prescriptions, and I don't know the last time I saw new clothes on anyone here.
The so-called stimulus package coming our way in May will most likely pay off bills rather than put more dollars in the hands of retailers.
We are the working middle class, and I figure we're having the same problems you are.
Let's share solutions, and maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - if we can find someone who can afford the bread.
Carol Stark is editor of The Joplin Globe. Address correspondence to her, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802 or e-mail cstark@joplinglobe.com.
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