$115 for diapers and wipes - how do they afford?

cameras, metal mesh and huriccane shutters are common in some neighborhoods. along with other types of security measures. These days people not knowing about such things have got to be getting rarer, at least in the general population. I have to admit. I've yet to notice baby formula locked up, at least not without the rest of for sale items in the store also being under lock and key.

 

Absolutely. However, I was referring to the TFR ( "total fertility rate" ) number that was touted around May. Tons of articles out there about it.

Why Is the U.S. Birth Rate Declining? | PRB

Also interesting is fertility rates are decreasing among all racial/ethnic groups. Not a great sign. And the economy plays a large role ( not the only reason though, of course ).

Personally, I couldn't imagine having kids today...it just sucks economically. I took a a quick look at costs compared to when we were young parents and holy S*(T it's insane...even when you consider inflation. Child care costs? Ouch...not to mention housing, 'supplies' ( the topic of this thread ), etc... However, if a couple really wants kids...I suppose "love always finds a way"...or not...the divorce rate still isn't great these days either. It's always amusing talking to young parents that are expecting a child...they have absolutely no idea what they are getting themselves into...haha.

 

My clan (predominately Catholics) now includes a vibrant Mormon subset and both seem to be leaning well away from the current trend of not having larger families. Those of the Hebraic persuasion and their Muhammadan brothers also trend towards larger families.
Even we upstart Prods down here in the Deep South are having more and more families with > 1 child......they're just doing it a little later in their lives.

I'm thinking as our nation becomes more ethnically diverse, our "population replacement" problem will be solved.
....maybe some of our social proiblems too......

Remember....we're only a generation or two past the "Population Bomb" myth.

 

Depending on how one defines generation(s), we may be starting the 4th since, come the new year. Let me check the dates again here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation#/media/File:Generation_timeline.svg
source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation
and what it looked like in 2009 according to the archived copy :
http://genconnection.com/lmu/5th/List%20of%20generations%20-%20Wikipedia,%20the%20free%20encyclopedia.pdf

and certain aspects of that document(s) correctness are being challenged for one reason or another. data sheessh - only the facts ma'am.

I hope I wasn't rushing in a new generation in thinking we might get it this new year.

 

Sorry - this is kind of off topic (actually, very), but the $7 a day smoking habit caught my eye. What do cigarettes cost in America? And does it vary from state to state?

In Australia it's pushing US$30 for a pack of 20, so the idea of a $7 a day habit seems very restrained.

I was working on a tobacco-related project for a client a few weeks ago and was shocked to discover that it's about US$6 for a pack of 20 in Japan.

 

Taxes vary sharply by state. Here is a comparison:
https://balancingeverything.com/cigarette-prices-by-state/

About $7/pack average across the nation, from $5.25 in Missouri to $12.85 in New York.

I believe part of the non-tax sales price goes to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998. Unfortunately many states have squandered their share on spending unrelated to mitigation of tobacco health problems.

 

Thank you. Gosh, that's a huge variation from state to state. But even in New York, they're less than half the price they are here.

And we have plain packaging - there's no branding, other than the name of the brand in Times New Roman 10pt. Other than that, the packet must be olive green, with a giant picture of some hideous symptom of smoking diseases - a diseased lung or a cancerous eye or a gangrenous foot are among the more attractive ones. I won't attach a picture here as some of you Americans are about to go to bed and I wouldn't want to give you nightmares, but Google "Australian cigarette plain packaging" if you're feeling brave.

The packaging and the pricing have combined to really put people off smoking here: it's rare to see people smoking in the street.

EDIT:

Does that state-to-state variation mean you get a lot of smuggling across state lines?

 

I tried this based on your recommendation, but it made my car look awful and smell appalling.

Wait.... was I supposed to wash them first?

 

i can't speak for today, but back in the 80's, my parents used to fill their car in north carolina, on the way home from florida every spring. a whole years supply, and there was a substantial savings.
it may have been illegal, iirc. there was some kind of tax stamp on the packaging.

 

Can't say on the level, but a no longer recent incident of a man unnecessarily dying at the hands of the police started because that man was selling loosies, individual cigarettes.

 

Cigarette smuggling is a "thing" in the US, but not much of one - Eric Garners of the world notwithstanding.
This is because back in the pre-COVID times interstate travel in the US did not require much in the way of paperwork and even at the time of this writing, there are not many checkpoints amongst the US states.
Our federal government has this silly idea that even non-violent crime can sometimes be reduced with the threat of prison and/or hefty fines.
In the US, one can freely transport something like 10,000 cigarettes (10 cartons?) and/or a like quantity of smokeless tobacco legally, between our states.

We have a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives curiously known colloquially and without much affection in most states as the BATF.
Some in our more rural states still refer to them as the "(deleted by forum guidelines) Revenuers"

As you may remember from your primary school history, which by default is taught at a much higher level than in any of OUR primary schools, we in the United States have a somewhat unique history with taxes.
Our first internal rebellion in the 1790s was a Whiskey Tax Rebellion, and even in its most abbreviated accounting it is a fascinating conflict complete with draft dodgers, liberty poles, robust debates involving federal versus state authority, vaccination hesitancies, and militias.

Even myopically impaired modern historians credit President Washington for his handling of this POTUS test with BOTH strength and compassion, and he would go on to pardon the two men who were "credited" with causing and sustaining the insurrection.

"The misled have abandoned their errors," he stated. "For though I shall always think it a sacred duty to exercise with firmness and energy the constitutional powers with which I am vested, yet it appears to me no less consistent with the public good than it is with my personal feelings to mingle in the operations of Government every degree of moderation and tenderness which the national justice, dignity, and safety may permit"


Fun Fact:
It is often noted that only 10 US Army personnel were directly involved along with more than 10,000 militia forces - many drafted.
None of these were killed in action, but about a dozen died from diseases and accidents.
Not counting the US Civil War, It would not be until The Great War (WW1) that more soldiers died in action against the enemy than were struck down by disease or in accidents.
This is why the military had, and in these more enlightened times still mostly HAS a zero tolerance policy with vaccine hesitancy.

 

Right. So do the reservations not have the same cigarette taxes?

 

My parents used to do the same with alcohol when coming back from France. The whole car would be rattling and clinking all the way from Kent to Lancashire.

 

Ah, yes.

So would he (or an associate) have bought them out of state?

There are people in Britain and Australia (often newsagents) who will sell singles/loosies under the counter. But most are still local duty paid - they're just selling them individually to children who can't afford a pack of 20.

 

Thanks to all of you for your responses on the cigarette thing. It was really interesting.

 

Reservations are essentially their own state when it comes to taxes and regulations. Which is why Casinos opened up in them while gambling is banned in the state, and how Tesla got around New Mexico banning their stores.

Depends on how much hassle the trip would be to get to lower taxed states.

 

In China (Yunnan extensively grows Nicotinia), a 20-pack of cigarettes can range in price from $2 to $20 USD equivalent. I would suppose that upper half of range is perceived luxury and mostly given as presents meant to impress. But I have not done my research .

 

I don't know enough details of his particular case, but he could well have bought them as whole packs in a convenience store on the same city block, then separated them to resell as singles or 'loosies' to low-volume or trying-to-cut-back smokers not wanting a whole pack in their hands. But that would violate tax laws requiring a separate tax stamp on each single cigarette, totaling considerably more than the same cigarettes sold as a whole pack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Eric_Garner

 

Had Eric simply complied, we would know more….and he might still be alive today.
Tragically, he chose a different path.

I do not know the particular deets either, but the Grand Jury presumably did and does……
I seem to recall a doxing attempt in this case, but its probably separate-thread worthy.