Economics
Jan. 12th, 2026 03:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithChristmas Cookie Inflation Index, 2025 Update
Cheaper sugar came at the cost of lower wages, fewer choices, and a community with less say over its own economic life. That tradeoff may not show up in national statistics, but it shows up clearly in places like mine.
In my locale, we lost JoAnn Fabrics, as everywhere did, making it much harder to do things like make your own if a needed item wasn't for sale commercially. We lost Big Lots, as most places did, which was the biggest and most diverse bargain store. We gained Michael's, which sells less craft supplies than JoAnn at much higher prices; Beal's and Five Below, which sell less bargain goods than Big Lots at similar prices. Two nearby towns got Ollie's, which is a big and excellent bargain store, but farther away and not quite the same stock as Big Lots. So yes, the economy is quietly collapsing toward a simpler state. That makes it much harder for people to adapt to pressures, because it's harder to find supplies -- especially things like fabric that aren't well suited to shopping online. :/
Cheaper sugar came at the cost of lower wages, fewer choices, and a community with less say over its own economic life. That tradeoff may not show up in national statistics, but it shows up clearly in places like mine.
In my locale, we lost JoAnn Fabrics, as everywhere did, making it much harder to do things like make your own if a needed item wasn't for sale commercially. We lost Big Lots, as most places did, which was the biggest and most diverse bargain store. We gained Michael's, which sells less craft supplies than JoAnn at much higher prices; Beal's and Five Below, which sell less bargain goods than Big Lots at similar prices. Two nearby towns got Ollie's, which is a big and excellent bargain store, but farther away and not quite the same stock as Big Lots. So yes, the economy is quietly collapsing toward a simpler state. That makes it much harder for people to adapt to pressures, because it's harder to find supplies -- especially things like fabric that aren't well suited to shopping online. :/
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