[ti:Coffee, Ketchup, Nike Air Max: It's the COVID Consumer Economy]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]Instant coffee mix and Nike Air Max footwear are all in.
[00:06.28]Bottled water and high-end Burberry trench coats are out.
[00:12.48]Welcome to America's consumer economy in the coronavirus health crisis.
[00:19.56]It is completely different than anything that Americans have ever experienced.
[00:26.52]"Everything we knew about supply and demand, we can...throw out...
[00:31.32]because consumer behavior has changed completely," said Piotr Dworczak.
[00:38.76]He is an assistant professor of economics at Northwestern University in Illinois.
[00:46.36]Reuters news agency examined a wide mix of goods and products
[00:52.12]to show how the COVID-19 crisis has changed consumer behavior
[00:57.40]for everything from clothing to food.
[01:01.68]These changes have given some businesses the power to raise prices
[01:06.64]or, at least, stop lowering prices.
[01:11.48]Business experts say all of this can be linked to one change: working from home.
[01:20.24]Over a very short period, a consumer-driven economy
[01:24.56]with predictable work and home spending changed completely.
[01:30.88]Rising demand for some products,
[01:33.56]as well as supply-chain problems, has pushed prices up.
[01:39.72]American consumers are now spending a lot more than they did a year ago
[01:45.40]on coffee, eggs, and cheese, the Reuters study found.
[01:52.20]The study was based on the latest pricing information
[01:56.12]from the Nielson Company and other data-gathering businesses.
[02:01.60]Demand and prices have increased for more costly items,
[02:06.80]such as Nike Air Max sneakers or a Louis Vuitton handbag.
[02:12.92]Economists explain this by saying that many people have more money right now
[02:18.72]because they are unable to buy things at stores or eat in restaurants.
[02:25.36]Many other workers who lost their jobs are receiving money from a federal program.
[02:33.04]"If I were to consider the consumer...in a strange way,
[02:37.00]they may have more disposable income,
[02:39.80]if they kept their job," said Nirupama Rao,
[02:43.28]an assistant professor of business economics
[02:46.44]and public policy at the University of Michigan.
[02:51.36]Americans paid about 8 percent more for one kind of instant coffee at stores
[02:57.76]between July and August, the Nielsen Company found.
[03:02.72]Such inflation might make sense, given the increase in demand
[03:07.28]for products used in and around the home.
[03:11.84]But some experts believe stores and big businesses
[03:15.76]are using their power to increase profits while millions of people are out of work.
[03:22.84]Well-known companies "have been fattening their pockets"
[03:26.32]while putting pressure on the consumer
[03:29.00]who has to pay those higher prices," said Burt Flickinger.
[03:34.44]He is an expert on retail sales at Strategic Resource Group.
[03:40.64]Other industry experts note that many businesses have had
[03:44.88]to accept costly production changes because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
[03:52.00]For example, before COVID-19, tens of millions of workers
[03:57.32]bought a cup of coffee to drink on their way to work.
[04:01.68]Now, they make coffee at home every day and want to buy coffee mix instead.
[04:10.08]That means the coffee industry has had to increase
[04:14.20]production of smaller packaging for home use.
[04:19.12]Egg suppliers have had to increase production of egg packaging
[04:23.72]because people want more fresh eggs.
[04:28.00]Yet consumer companies can be hurt in the future if they are not careful.
[04:34.84]Prices for bottled water and diapers have gone up,
[04:39.00]while demand for those products has fallen for most of the pandemic.
[04:45.12]People are unwilling to pay for water when they can drink their own water at home.
[04:52.60]Parents can also use less costly diapers
[04:56.48]when they and their baby are staying home all day.
[05:01.16]COVID-19 safety restrictions have meant many Americans
[05:05.32]do not travel, eat out, or go to movie theaters.
[05:11.20]They are driving much less, so they buy less fuel for their cars.
[05:17.76]This means they have the money to buy high-priced items.
[05:23.64]Michael Collins is a professor
[05:26.12]at the University of Wisconsin's consumer science department.
[05:31.44]He says that during the pandemic, many Americans feel like
[05:36.00]they can buy high-end goods because of the money they are saving.
[05:40.76]"Now I don't eat out at all, so I have a couple of hundred dollars," he said.
[05:48.60]With this "found" money, a person can buy a luxury item.
[05:55.28]This behavior could explain the rise in demand and prices for the Air Max.
[06:02.44]Nike online sales increased about 50 percent in July,
[06:07.96]noted a clothing data business.
[06:11.60]Separately, the price of Louis Vuitton's Neverfull MM Monogram handbag
[06:17.56]has risen 5 percent on its website since the start of May.
[06:23.80]In July, Louis Vuitton owner LVMH said sales had increased since June,
[06:30.92]even with three price increases in six months.
[06:36.00]There are some limits, however.
[06:39.12]Demand for a Burberry woman's trench coat
[06:42.44]has fallen about 11 percent over the past year.
[06:47.88]It costs $2,245, and women who no longer go into the office,
[06:54.84]no longer want to spend a lot of money on outdoor wear.
[07:00.36]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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