My posts have all been on topic and not once have I made a disparaging remark about you, until now: gfy
I said "pointed comments"--which you have altered to "a disparaging remark." Would you deny that your posts in this thread have been utterly filled with pointed comments?
THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE How many people read Consumer Reports? The total circulation of Consumer Reports is 3.8 million. The total number of families in the US is around 128 million (from here). The total cost and distribution of articles/services purchased changes very quickly as incomes increase. There is also a break-off point where food shopping as percentage of total income lessens greatly. That point is likely beyond the median income level in the US (of $31K) when people feel that what they eat is enough and they start spending upon other items. It's a lot easier to just bitch-'n-moan about how EXPENSIVE everything is. There is also the fact that the average shopping bill for American shoppers looks like this: That 23% of pretax income grocery shopping costs likely diminishes percentage-wise (of total spending) as incomes rise. And it diminishes quickly even if the price-levels (at supermarkets where they shop) may increase as their net-income gets better. Moreover below that bottom quintile income-level is clearly the lowest of all and the people should not be spending 13% of their pre-tax income on restaurants. But they do. Buying and or eating food "out" is very likely a more important constant percentage of total family-expenditure at lower income levels than at higher levels and it includes taking food "away" and eating it either in the home or elsewhere ...
I just tell my dishwasher to be quiet and get the dishes done, lol...*FatBack peers nervously over his shoulder, to make sure the dishwasher wont see his post!
I take them into account, but that is personal. Because the consumer reviews do not seemt to want to touch the question of comparative cost. (Not in France, at least.) Not that I read CR except its unrelated French version, which is very different in that it takes on some very touchy "personal subjects" into account. CR was the first to do this and it set an example for many reviews of the same nature that now exist in Europe. Such reviews are necessary given the ONSLAUGHT of TV- and journal-publicity to sell products. What's missing (perhaps) is customer-usage that would round out any assessment with the actual experience of users ... I've not seen much of that in Europe. But, then again, that would require some difficulty to formulate correctly beyond just "feelings" regarding a product destined for home usage ...
We have a Consumer Reports here in France. They don't just test products and rate them. Some time ago, a company somehow convinced the French government that its electricity-counters should be replaced. Nobody understood why, they worked perfectly well. Except they had to be read. And, of course, that cost money. So, a company managed to develop a model that reported electricity-usage by means of the electricity line. Not a bad idea, but why force it on people - which is what they tried to do. Some people refused and the French equivalent to Consumer Reports finally took the matter to court. The court found for the complainant citing the fact that the forced change was clearly manipulative ...
DEBATE IS AS DEBATE DOES Good point, and your remark does not apply only to the person to which it was addressed. The bent for one-liner sarcasm is endemic on this forum. It's a form of "letting off steam for the world to know such". When the world really does not give-a-damn. Such people deserve to be on a Message Board where they can throw personal insults at one another. All they accomplish here is a shouting-match. (I should know; I've been bitten any number of times and must learn to stop.) In case we forgot, the definition of "debate" as in the appellation "Debate Forum":
Consumer Reports gets funding from the companies that they cover. I doubt that their reviews are either honest or accurate.
Could you offer some proof, please? (And that does not mean that it is merely a rumor that you have "heard.")
OH? Then this here below is a bunch of lies - from Consumer Reports here: Do you have any proof of what you say? It would be interesting to read ...
