I want Four Apples for a Dollar
I reserve my right to get angry at any and all politicians at any time for any reason, but I can't quite get worked up about President Obama thinking that he could get 4 apples for a dollar. Story here. My own mother has trouble adjusting to the changing cost of goods and we like to tease her about this. Not a fatal flaw.
Anyway, over at U.S. News & World Report, contributing editor Peter Roff notes that media coverage of this incident is very different than it would have been (or has been) for Republican presidents. This will surprise no one. To make his point, however, he repeats a common misconception:
Lest anyone accuse me of picking nits, recall back in the days when George Herbert Walker Bush was president and was shown a new type of grocery scanner that appeared to amaze and impress him. The fact that it was a new technology was no excuse; his amazement was proof that Bush, who at the time was presiding over a flagging U.S. economy, was just completely out of touch with what average Americans experience on a daily basis.
Two problems with that story, according to Snopes. One, the reporter who blew it up -- The New York Times reporter Andrew Rosenthal -- hadn't actually witnessed the event in question. Had he, he might have realized that it wasn't a normal grocery scanner but a fraud-detection one that could also read mangled bar codes and weigh groceries. This was 20 years ago, if you need reminding. Second, other reporters say that "bored" or "friendly" would be a better description of President Bush that day, rather than shocked and amazed.
Yeah, I'm a nitpicker. But it's important to get these stories right.
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Jun '10
Re: I want Four Apples for a Dollar
The point of the story is the same or even magnified. The fact that Rosenthal blew a comment all out of proportion and painted Bush Sr. out of touch was the point. The wimp factor also comes to mind. I remember when a New Jersey mother mentioned that actual phrase as a reason for being wary of Bush Sr.
Sometimes these little human interest stories exemplify a human trait and sometimes they don't. Just don't trust the MSM to tell you which they are. Think for yourself.
May '10
Re: I want Four Apples for a Dollar
Here's your economic eye-opener:
"And you need not go further than one of our stores on midnight at the end of the month. And it's real interesting to watch, about 11 p.m., customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with basic items, baby formula, milk, bread, eggs, and continue to shop and mill about the store until midnight, when ... government electronic benefits cards get activated and then the checkout starts and occurs. And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher.
"And if you really think about it, the only reason somebody gets out in the middle of the night and buys baby formula is that they need it, and they've been waiting for it. Otherwise, we are open 24 hours — come at 5 a.m., come at 7 a.m., come at 10 a.m. But if you are there at midnight, you are there for a reason."
Bill Simon (Chief, Wal-Mart's U.S. operations)
Source: NPR
Feb '10
Re: I want Four Apples for a Dollar
I agree, there's nothing to see here, move along. No big deal.
In fact, we occasionally get 4 apples for a dollar at our local Mexican supermarket, but they are very small apples and it only happens during peak apple season.
Jul '10
Re: I want Four Apples for a Dollar
And the obvious: You're comparing apples to.... scanners.
May '10
Re: I want Four Apples for a Dollar
I was in the food business at the time of the Bush story and it was an big embarrassment for the industry. Presidents are always invited to tour a new plant, or community center, or look over a company's new products, and of course they say nice things to the proud exhibitors. This "gotcha" game gets old quickly.
May '10
Re: I want Four Apples for a Dollar
This is at least Obama's second grocery FAIL. The first one, from the campaign in 2007: "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" (Said in Iowa, which has no Whole Foods stores, and very little arugula, at least in the Sioux City area where I grew up ...)
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/obamas-down-on-the-farm/
Maybe Dear Leader (and, for that matter, his wife) would be better off staying away from the whole subject of food.
May '10
Re: I want Four Apples for a Dollar
My Autumn bidness plan is ready to go. Apples for a quarter, pencils for a nickel, and I even got an oil drum to set fires in at night, to charge for the privilege of hand-warming.
This replaces my previous plan to sell black market incandescent bulbs. Looks like that provision may be repealed, so now I got all my starting capital sunk into light bulbs at market prices instead of high-margin contraband.
Jul '10
Re: I want Four Apples for a Dollar
I appreciate the double standard. It is ever present and a fact of life.
But it is just idiotic for anybody to get upset over the facts of daily life that a President may or may not know. Bemoaning that President Obama doesn't accurately price apples is the worst sort of goofy populism. The price of apples ought to be waaaaayyyyyyyy down the list of conerns of the leader of the free world.