Today’s lunchtime news chum brings together a collection of articles, all exhibiting signs of our economic times:
- 12 Days. Let’s start with the obvious one. The price to buy all the items in the “12 Days of Christmas” song has gone up to $101,119.84″, but cheaper if you buy on the internet. Me, I prefer Green Christmas:
On the fourth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Four bars of soap,
Three cans of peas,
Two breakfast foods,
And some toothpaste on a pear tree!On the fifth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me…
Five tube-less tires!
Fo-ur quarts of gin,
Three ci-gars,
Two cig-ar-ettes,
And some hair tonic on a pear tree! - Credit at the Chandler. The Music Center Parking Garage goes automated today. The upside of this is that you can use credit cards. The downside is that jobs are likely lost, as gates are automatically controls. More money for the county, which if it goes back to the arts, is OK (they aren’t raising rates, they are stopping shrinkage).
- Watch Your Phone. With people carrying less cash, thieves are increasingly targeting folks for their smart phones. They don’t want your data; they want to wipe and resell the jailbroken device.
- Step on a Crack. With the city increasingly tight on cash, they are moving to make maintenance of the sidewalk the responsibility of the homeowner. The problem: The homeowner still doesn’t have control over the city-owned tree in the median whose roots create all the problem. I’d say we could just wait for the wind to blow them down, but they don’t always come down where you want them to.
- Toothaches. It seems people in bad economic times forgo dentistry, even though that can create health problems. So dentists are turning to marketing to fill the chairs. Teeth whitening or braces, anyone?
