Minster: Price increases affect everyone
Price Increase
Monday, September 10th, 2007
I ride the bus. Not as regularly as I once did, when I rode it to work and back every day, but still at least four times a week I’m among the great unwashed (some literally so). So I took notice when Lawrence Transit decided to raise its fares. The price of a bus ride has gone up one quarter, and at the end of the year it will go up another quarter.
What’s the big deal, right? The quarter is the new nickel. The days of buying something for a quarter and getting change are long gone. When I first heard about the fare increase, my sense of outrage was less than stoked. I had been angrier about a game of “Wheel of Fortune” than I was about this. (“She already guessed T! Weren’t you listening?”)
It turned out, I was just looking at it wrong. When I began to realize the eventual fare would be double the original fare, well, that seemed like it could very well be the largest fee increase in government history. What if the cost of everything doubled? I’d have much less spending power. Some estimates indicate I’d have perhaps half as much. Half as much spending power would mean half as many Swedish Fish and Vernor’s ginger ale. And, suddenly, there was the missing outrage.
Fortunately, I wasn’t alone. It seems every fee increase in America can now be painted as an effort of stick it to the little guy. Evidently every government budget is being “balanced on the backs of the poor.”
It’s not just the poor who are getting shafted. Women, minorities and children are all feeling the brunt of mathematics, too. A quick search with that staple of serious research, Google, indicates people across the country are currently painting everything from drug enforcement to building contracts as an attempt to harm women, minorities and children. I could feel the indignation welling up inside my bowels. I went to the restroom and checked my drawers. Yep, it was only indignation.
I hadn’t been this angry since last spring when Jimmy John’s raised the price of all their sandwiches by 26 cents. That’s an eight percent increase on the price of the slim. My kids always ate the slim. It turns out Jimmy John’s was balancing their budget on the backs of my kids.
“What do you guys think about the higher prices at Jimmy John’s?” I asked my kids.
“What Jimmy John’s is?” my son asked.
“A sandwich shop.”
“Is it that place where they give you cards while you wait?” my daughter asked.
“No, that’s Yello Sub.”
“Let’s eat there,” she said.
So there you have it. My kids are so angry about the higher prices at Jimmy John’s that they won’t even eat there anymore. And I’m so angry about the bus fare increase that I’m shopping for bicycles now.
Yet there are important questions that remain unanswered, such as, “How long has Jimmy John’s had it out for women, minorities and children? And why are there so many onions in the tuna salad sandwich? Seriously, it’s like I’m eating an onion that had been raised on a slight diet of tuna.” Jimmy John’s has supplied no answers (mainly because I haven’t actually asked anyone associated with Jimmy John’s), and the silence speaks volumes. (I had a concerned look on my face when I typed that last bit.)
Minster is a Lawrence senior in economics.
Discussion
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Let me get the ball rolling here by simply saying: "Marvelous!" You've outdone yourself. I can tell just by reading your article that you're probably quite sexy, too. We should party sometime and see if we end up back at my place. (The laws of physics dictate that we will.)
I don't really get what you are trying to say. Sarcasm doesn't carry well in print...
I can only guess, and based on the headline "Price increases affect everyone," I am deducting that you are trying to point out that, well, everyone has to pay when prices go up. So I mean, if you are taking a potshot at the poor people who gripe about increases in fees and out of pocket costs, and you are an economics major, you should be able to deduct why so many people see this as a problem. Paying $10 more a week for something takes 4% of your income away when you make $250 a week ($13,000 / year). Paying the same amount when you make $673 a week ($35,000 / year) takes that to 1.5%. Four... As it turns out... Is actually a BIGGER NUMBER than 1.5%, even though the difference of actual PRICE is the same... Do you follow? It's about the impact on your financial pool of resources.
So, when prices go up, do poor people actually have to pay the same amount, given their economic situation? I'm not saying there should be a poor curve.
If you're not saying this, perhaps you should talk to your headline writer. If you didn't have a message in this, why did you write it? Hey, prices go up? Is that what you're saying?
I, uh, don't know why you had to comment on your own piece to say you are sexy. Obviously, you have a small, er, ego...
Llama, lighten up!
Ditto with KHud. Good grief, if your ideas are so much better, put your money where your mouth is and apply to have your own column so stick-in-the-arse trolls can shred it online behind a pseudonym. Much easier to express yourself that way instead of putting it out for a few thousand people to see, isn't it?
I enjoyed it, Brandon.
Llama, you're deducing, not deducting. And when I compute the cost percentage increase of the Jimmy John's Slim sandwich, I'm doing the same math you did. Price increases hurt poor people because they have less money. But the people who increase prices aren't balancing anything on the backs of poor people. They are increasing the price. People who are quick to anger (ahem-ahem-you-ahem) get worked up about immutable rules of mathematics, such as "a smaller denominator makes the fraction bigger."
Are you seriously angry that I thought it would be funny to call myself sexy like I had never met myself? Is there anything that DOESN'T get you angry?
I'm not angry about Jimmy John's increasing their prices. I'm just saying, I doubt you've ever really had to worry about money. I wasn't actually angry, you guys are pretty defensive though. I've never used the reasoning "well, price increases are TARGETED at poor people." Price increases are a part of life, they just suck more when you have less money. I don't think anyone disagrees with that.
And no, I'm glad you think you are sexy. Never said my ideas were better, hermeschick, but now that you mention it, I *am* always right.
Llama said: "I doubt you've ever really had to worry about money."
On what do you base your intriguing theory? Speculation, or have you seen a copy of my tax return?
This is some of your funniest stuff. I have to say that I literally spit out my sip of Coke (which BTW, costs more than it used to) when I read about your kids' willingness to take on those Capitalist Price Raisers. If only more preschoolers would be willing to take a stand we could do something about that proposed 10% increase in toy prices to hit after Christmas. I guess lead paint is cheap? Get the kids on this one, will you? I mean, sure sandwhiches are important, but TOYS... that affects us all.
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