Sunday, January 25, 2009

Does a bad economy save lives?

Allure magazine has a segment in the most recent issue called "(Dollar) Signs of the Times" which looked at what's soaring and what's plunging in the current fiscal roller coaster. They stated that hemlines, exotic handbags, lipstick, and sex columns are the barometer used to predict the health of the world's economy. Sounds scientific.

Apparently cosmetic procedures, egg donation, chocolate, slow songs, self-tanner and "mature features" are on the rise. Why the last one, you might ask? According to the magazine, "during recessions, Playboy Playmates have larger waists and waist-to-hip ratios, while actresses tend to have small eyes, large chins, and thin faces, hallmarks of older women."

What's on the decline? Lipstick, long hair, sex columns, alcohol, lobster prices, and mortality rates. Allure mentions that sex columns are slowing down as they "seem frivolous" and they mention that the Village Voice and Playboy channel have recently eliminated staff sex experts. I guess any future gigs as a sexpert are out for me. Darn...

Anyway, the mortality rate decline was interesting. It seems that a "one-percentage-point rise in unemployment leads to about 14,000 fewer deaths per year. With more time and less money, people eat healthier, smoke less, and exercise more."

Also in recessions, prices on exercise equipment get slashed! I think I'll go buy a treadmill.

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32 Comments:

Blogger John Doiron said...

A decline in the mortality rate? You mean it's dipped below 100%? :)And you know, I did notice the eyes of some of my favorite actresses getting smaller. This research goes to show that we have a glut of researchers.

11:05 PM, January 25, 2009  
Blogger Cham said...

I don't know about eyes and waistlines, but I have noticed the hair on many of our little modern starlets has all turned to brown. I have no idea what that is about, but I have grown tired of all the shiny yellow so it is a nice change, it may have something to do with the economy.

As far as the unhealthy food, our bad food choices started from increases in food prices. When the price of meat went high back in the 70s, America turned to pizza, cheesy meatless pizza. When the price of beef rose, people turned to hamburgers and hotdogs instead of other more expensive cuts of meat. If you increase the fat content of meat the price per pound tends to decrease.

The government has been subsidizing corn and wheat, so the price of those products has dropped over the last 40 years. Because of the cost, Americans enjoy products made with high fructose corn syrup and bleached wheat flour which aren't necessarily the most nutritious choices.

Currently, the price of milk is up. So the price of ice cream, cheese and other fatty poisons is up. The price of meat is up. The price of candy is up, but not by much. The prices of some healthy vegetables have gone through the roof, they did so when gas prices increased exponentially and have now stayed there. The price of wheat products went high and have since rebounded a bit.

I'm fascinated with restaurant pricing. I don't go to restaurants that often but I love watching the menu boards to see what is going on. When the price of food and heat went up, restaurants simply raised their prices accordingly. That resulted in fewer customers, very few customers. Some restaurants closed, some are hanging on by a thread. Others have got creative.

I went by one restaurant yesterday that no longer lists their prices. They wrote a note that in order to be fair they are doing some sort of math calculation figuring the price of food and heat for the week and then pricing their dishes accordingly.

Another restaurant offered a "Stimulus Menu", with some prix fixe options that sounded delicious. On Monday nights for $20 you get a 1.5 pound lobster with all the fixins at a very nice place, sounds tasty. I'm thinking lobster tonight.

McDonalds has been the most creative and the most successful restaurant of recent note. They are sticking tenaciously to that dollar menu which is a smart move. The cost of cooking up some of their dollar options has increased, like the double cheese burger. So the double cheeseburger has turned into the Doubler. The problem was that expensive cheese, so now you still get the burgers but one less slice of cheese. We all could do with a little less cheese. I also am impressed with something called the breakfast burrito, that is some sort of spicy egg concoction stuffed in a burrito all for a buck, no greasy bacon and cheese included. Works for me.

8:07 AM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger TMink said...

Cham wrote: "I also am impressed with something called the breakfast burrito, that is some sort of spicy egg concoction stuffed in a burrito all for a buck, no greasy bacon and cheese included. Works for me."

I am betting you have never tried one! 8)

"Not greasy" and breakfast burrito are not allowed in the same sentence.

Trey

11:01 AM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger Cham said...

Actually, I have been eating the breakfast burrito, one every 2 weeks on average for some time. I went looking for nutritional information on the product and I am a little confused. My McDonalds lists the product as a Breakfast Burrito with no mention of sausage, and I haven't noticed any sausage in the product but, then again, I haven't looked all that hard.

The nutritional data available from McDonalds only lists something called a Sausage Breakfast Burrito, and nutritional information varies for that too. Some sites list it at 290, 113 grams, calories, some at 320, 117 grams. If it is 290 calories it has 16 grams of fat and 13 grams of protein. If it is 320 calories it has 20 grams of fat and 13 grams of protein.

I'm not convinced there is any sausage in the ones I'm buying. I will look harder next time I buy one.

11:30 AM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger TMink said...

Cham, that is SO funny. I saw the ads and thought I would like one. I tried it and I could not finish it due to the extra grease.

It must be a southern thing!

Trey

11:56 AM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger Cham said...

You might be thinking of the McSkillet burrito. That's a heart attack wrapped in a flour tortilla.

12:21 PM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger jabrwok said...

I guess any future gigs as a sexpert are out for me. Darn...

Attractive married women shouldn't throw out straight lines like that...

12:25 PM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger TMink said...

Cham, I have blocked the name of that greasy dog rocket out of my mind!

Trey

1:17 PM, January 26, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Considering less people are driving to and from work everyday, there may be less deaths on the highways. And if less people are AT work, the toll taken by work related injury / death may be lowered.

And taking into consideration the subject Cham and Trey have been discussing, people may be purchasing less "triple by-passes with cheese" at lunch. This may show an improvement in mortality rates down the road a piece.

3:05 PM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger TMink said...

Only in America would hard economic times save lives. What a country!

Trey

4:30 PM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger J. Bowen said...

I would also add that a 1% rise in unemployment also means that 1% more people are not making the dangerous trip to and from work each day. I don't have any scientific data to back up this claim, but I'm sure that if it were to be amassed my claim would be proven correct.

5:12 PM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger Larry J said...

There may also be fewer people taking part in dangerous recreational activities such as rock climbing or skydiving, but that's just a guess.

5:28 PM, January 26, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sadly, my monthly flights to the Bunny Farm outside Vegas are to be severely curtailed.

I hate recessions.

6:16 PM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger Mom said...

Do you suppose people are drinking less?

7:09 AM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger TMink said...

Or more?

One way we always have saved money is by shopping on the outside aisles of the supermarket where the less processed foods are. Vegetables and fruits are pretty cheap if you buy raw and cook yourself. Just doing that would help a lot of people improve their health.

I have decided that 20% of grocery stores are for food and at least 50% is just for selling delivery vehicles for salt and sugar. Fast foods have the delivery of fats tied up, so there is less of a market for the grocery stores in that area. Check it out, you will see whole double aisles just for interesting ways to sell government subsidized (that's you and me Rusty) corn syrup in different packages.

Trey

11:53 AM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger Cham said...

The center aisles in the grocery store can be your friend as well. That is where you find the dried beans, brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa and barley.

12:08 PM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger TMink said...

Regional difference, the dried legumes are outside aisle material. Well, outsideish. 8)

Trey

1:01 PM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger Mercurior said...

does that mean if 100% of people are unemployed 14,000,000 will live per year?

so is this ratio for this current year or later years.

2:26 PM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger J. Bowen said...

does that mean if 100% of people are unemployed 14,000,000 will live per year?

so is this ratio for this current year or later years.


Let's hope not. The bill for all of those welfare programs is already staggering. Hopefully things will get worse so that we can have something akin to a Malthusian check on all of this rampant growth...

5:40 PM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger Mercurior said...

thats why they say lies, damn lies and statistics..

10:27 AM, January 28, 2009  
Blogger Betty (aka Jenna) said...

I completely think that a recession will either slim you noticeably or send you through cheap fast food lines on your way to chuddbyhood. Before I learned how to handle my recession finances, I was at Taco Bell every other day ordering up $1.50 bean and cheese burritos (I'm a vegetarian). I gained 10 pounds in about a month and a half! My roommate was staying thin, I begged for advice, and since then she's been helping me trim the budget and the fat.

Though gas prices have remained relatively low here in Texas, I found that I can save quite a bit of money by taking the bus. Not only am I on time, but I can do makeup, drink my coffee, and enjoy a morning before work or class. I walk to the bus stop on days I don't have school, and ride my bike the other two days. So far, I'm looking thin.

It's nice to be able to afford a car, but even nicer to save money on a .60 cent bus fare. That way I appreciate my car, my expenses, and my waistline.

And no, not everyone in the South likes the McSkillet Burrito. It tates like salted sponge drenched in some foreign cheese substitute.

12:34 PM, January 28, 2009  
Blogger Roci said...

The Breakfast Burrito A.K.A. Sausage burrito. does indeed contain some sausage.

In many locations, the non-McDonalds breakfast burritos can be a feast containing, eggs, potatoes, peppers, sausage or bacon and cheese. Such things I have seen are 4 x the size of the McDonalds sausage burrito.

1:27 PM, January 28, 2009  
Blogger TMink said...

Roci, I fear you may be confusing quantity with guality. 8)

Trey

2:21 PM, January 28, 2009  
Blogger Roci said...

No confusion.


Quantity IS Quality

2:43 PM, January 28, 2009  
Blogger Cham said...

I've been doing more research on the McDonald's burrito options.

The breakfast burrito at McDonalds does contain sausage, however it is advertised as "tiny bits of sausage", this is different than the "sausage chunks" found in the McSkillet Burrito. More information on the McSkillet burrito can be found here.

I found it suspect that the Breakfast Burrito was advertised as a 270-320 calorie product whereas the McSkillet Burrito was supposed to have 610 calories. Considering it takes me 4 bites to finish a breakfast burrito and the day I purchased a McSkillet burrito I was unable to finish the product, I felt that something was amiss. The discrepancy might be the weight. The McSkillet burrito is only supposed to weigh 8.4 ounces, but I distinctly remember that the product I was served was quite hefty, probably nearer a pound. I believe that the McDonald's breakfast chef might have overstuffed the product with delicious greasy goodness of 2 kinds of cheese, sausage and potatoes. I didn't have to worry about getting enough cholesterol that day, the product took care of my needs at 137%, that would be if it only weighed 8.4 ounces. My needs for salt and saturated fat were also met.

I'm going to be sticking to the breakfast burritos from here on, and only sparingly so.

3:14 PM, January 28, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You folks need to fall in love with Bays English Muffins and a teaspoon of peanut butter on each half, with a cup of coffee and some O.J. - all at home.

What the hell is the matter with you folks eating that McDonald's junk? If I knew where you guys lived, I'd mail you a cinder block C.O.D. just so you'd have to pay postage.

And anyway, the Egg McMuffin rocks!

6:39 PM, January 28, 2009  
Blogger Cham said...

There is a very good reason one eats that McDonalds junk. When one is planning on burning 3000-4000 calories in an 8 hour period one has to haave some calories. Otherwise, after 1 hour of hard physical exercise you will end up burning muscle and wanting to lie down and take a nap. An english muffin with a teaspoon of peanut butter would be an appetizer.

7:44 PM, January 28, 2009  
Blogger Betty (aka Jenna) said...

Doesn't that Heath Bar shake from Baskin Robins contain something like 3800 calories? A 600 calorie burrito with wannabe eggs is like child's play when faced with a cup full of heartstopping deliciousness.

10:39 PM, January 28, 2009  
Blogger J. Bowen said...

A 600 calorie burrito with wannabe eggs is like child's play when faced with a cup full of heartstopping deliciousness.

A cup full of heartstopping deliciousness is like child's play when faced with a Bacon Explosion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html?no_interstitial

4:24 PM, January 29, 2009  
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