SPAM: the economic measure of our times

[markem]

[the nytimes.com site requires a free login]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/bu...hp&oref=slogin

AUSTIN, Minn. — The economy is in tatters and, for millions of people, the future is uncertain. But for some employees at the Hormel Foods Corporation plant here, times have never been better. They are working at a furious pace and piling up all the overtime they want.

. . .

Hormel declined to cooperate with this article, but several of its workers were interviewed here recently with the help of their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 9. Slumped in chairs at the union hall after making 149,950 cans of Spam on the day shift, several workers said they been through boom times before — but nothing like this.


Spam “seems to do well when hard times hit,” said Dan Bartel, business agent for the union local. “We’ll probably see Spam lines instead of soup lines.”

[my note: many cultures use SPAM as a mainstay, but the idea of SPAM as a predictor of recession/depression doesn't appear to be new]