I'd have been stumped with that question. I still think he's likely out of touch with managing a family on a modest income, but that level of specificity isn't the trap that nails him on that point.

She buys them -- and not the 18 oz size; that would last about 3 days. I have no idea what they cost.

dozen eggs, gallon of milk, cereal, 3 pound block of cheese, 1 lb of hamburger, 12 pack toilet paper, and see if he has a ballpark sense of how much that would cost

Even "how much does it cost to feed a family of four for a week?" would give a lot of information. That number is going to have a lot of variables, but still fall within a range that makes sense to most people.

My chickens provide eggs, I never buy cheese in that amount, don’t eat meat or drink milk.

Toilet paper I could maybe answer, but I don’t pay much attention to it lol.

on my way to the other items that I do buy located in the same aisle. And I do look over to see what national brand and store brand costs on occasion.

What's your point? This ain't about you.

Cheerios is a common starter food for most toddlers.

PS:I am a mother to 1 and an aunt to 91 nieces and nephews.

The ONLY time in my life when I bought cheerios with any regularity was 28 years ago when I had a toddler. So I've bought no more than 10 boxes of Cheerios in my life (and probably more like 2).

I don't eat breakfast - never have - so aside from that very brief period in my life I would have no reason to know the price of a box of cheerios.

Many issues are important and addressed during an election even when they are relevant to a portion of the population. In this instance it is relevant to a large portion of working families.

to consume breakfast cereals.

I would expect people running for president to have a basic knowledge of how much it takes to feed a family of 4, for example. I would not expect them to know the price of individual items that might (or might not) occupy that food basket - unless they have personal experience buying them on a regular basis.

understand what is relevant to them in THEIR daily lives.

Grocery costs matter. They certainly did in my family as a child. We were the poor Irish Catholic family with 12 kids. Which explains the 91 nieces and nephews. Heheh.

As always.....You are welcome to believe other thoughts on the subject.

You'll recall that during the '92 campaign, Bush's people began making an effort to make the president look less out-of-touch (as if such a thing were possible).

What ensued was one of the great political gaffes of the modern era:

then no problem.

to buy cereal.
Remember that Trump said you needed an iD to buy cereal.

food value and most are loaded with sugar.

I eat mostly generic brand oats, which are less expensive, have no sugar.

But he's still an out of touch, self-absorbed businessman that has no business in politics. I bet he knows exactly what a cup of coffee cost before Starbucks came on the scene. Now what is it? $3.00 at Starbucks?

You’d expect it to be $3-5, right? To be fair, a better question would have been the cost of a gallon of milk, since not everyone eats cereal. He probably doesn’t know that either.

He doesn't know... neither do I... stupid question.. I don't eat morning cereal so to me it's a moot point.. duh.. I still don't llike plutocrats in gov't though..
m

Knowing the exact amount isn’t important. You can answer the question and show you are not out of touch without knowing particulars if.... You are not out of touch.

The takeaway being that he is out of touch. A very similar question hurt HW Bush badly in the 92 election. Whether or not you actually eat breakfast cereal is completely irrelevant.

another member of the clueless “Billionaire Boys’ Club” f-ing up our country, Schultz you Asshole.

to hate him than not knowing about the cost of cereal.

by her interns......"

to protect Billionaire interests. I think the question was very appropriate in order to shine the light on the fact that we do not need another person running this country who can not related to 98% of its population. He would be just another tRump!

There was a show with a gotcha question like this for how much does a NYC subway ride cost. Jennifer Lopez had no idea but billionaire Michael Bloomberg knew.

Or, does he think the grocery store will give you a box or two on credit while you wait for a tyrant to reopen the government?

Better question would have been a loaf of store-brand bread...that I can tell you for a variety of stores.

All questions like this are meaningless, unless you first establish that the item being asked about is something regularly consumed by the person you're attempting to "gotcha."

are promising people "free jobs". What in hell is a free job?

The two questions he should have asked. The first is his net worth, and the second is how much federal taxes (all sources) he pays.

I think the answers would be enlightening.

because Starbucks is a publicly traded company and he is a major shareholder. Or rather, the amount of Starbucks shares he holds is public information. If he has other assets, they might not all be public.

His tax returns are not.

But I agree with you, he should divulge his tax returns if he stays in the race.

$5 for Multi-Grain
Ok, I did google it to make sure--I haven't bought them regularly for 20 years or more, but I have a fair memory for prices I see in passing and that would have been my guess

I just had a bowl. Rarely buy them but they just sounded good to me. Second box went to local food pantry. Mika pays NYC prices.

So the price of a box of Cheerios would have been a guess for me anyway!

The smaller sizes do cost around 3.79 to 3.99. The larger "Family Size" can cost 5.79.

The specials being run at the grocery store and any coupons which are available. It might be a loss leader for a grocery. The manufaciter might bundle it's purchase with other items in an incentive.

But it seems that is probably on the low side.

I wonder if Schultz was forced to give some kind of answer, what his guess would have been.

To expose how disconnected our ruling elites are.

It’s odd to see so many DUers in the thread completely miss the point.

Nah, I don't eat cereal either and I know how much it costs. You don't have to consume a product to have a general idea of its price point.

No Cheerio's gotchas for Trump old pal.

28 years ago, when my daughter was eating them as a baby, I could have told you.

But it's a meaningless question, unless you first confirm that the person you are asking would have some reason to know (i.e. they - or someone in their family - actually consumes them)

It does not necessarily mean anything more than that one has no reason to buy Cheerios - like quite a few people in this thread (most of whom are not out of touch).

Find something he does consume on a semi-regular basis and ask him the price of that. If he can't answer that question, then I'll buy that he's out of touch.

Read through this thread - there are a number of people in this thread who would similarly be unable to answer that question.

I'm not saying that he's in touch - chances are that he isn't, given his position. Just that the Q&A about the price of Cheerios is not relevant to establishing that characteristic (unless you first establish that he, or someone in his family actually consumes Cheerios).

You seem really invested in defending him .

Cereal is a staple. Like milk and bread. Most regular people know within a buck or two what those items cost. Perhaps Schultz isn’t the only one out of touch?

I know milk, but only because I buy it once a year to make potato soup. But for my annual open house at which the potato soup is served, I wouldn't know the price of milk, either.

You make too many assumptions about what everyone eats. No one in our family eats cereal. No one in our family drinks milk. My spouse eats bread - she buys it herself. I can't even recall the last time I bought a loaf of bread - I can tell you it is measured in years, not weeks or months. When you draw conclusions based on unverified assumptions, those conclusions are inherently questionable.

Even as a child I ate it rarely.

Guess I am also out of touch.

I do buy milk as a treat for my cats, but my beverages are tea of all sorts, coffee, juice, water, beer, fruit smoothies, the occasional bourbon.

But I have never fit in lol. I’m cool with that.

He's a billionaire running to protect his big tax cut.

The point is not what he consumes. It is what most ordinary people consume. I'm sure he knows the price of an once of caviar but most of us common folk don't consume that. I don't eat cereal regularly but know how much it costs.

If someone wants to be President of all the people, he or she should at least attempt to educate themselves as to the lives of all the people.

Based solely on that fact?

We're not ordinary people because we don't consume Cheerios? (I've purchased no more than 10 boxes of Cheerios in my life - and more likely no more than 2)

As I said in another post, I would expect someone running for president to educate himself about the general costs to feed a family of 4 (as the size that seems to most frequently be picked out). I would also expect him to know the range of living costs (say between Midwest v. East or West coasts) I don't expect him to know the price of individual items in a weekly food basket - because everyone's baskets will be different. Our family basket would not include any cereal at all. And the last time I looked at the price of Cheerios was 28 years ago when my daughter was an infant. I have no clue what it costs currently to purchase a box of Cheerios.

this is about Schultz, not about you.

And he should know the price of items like a loaf of bread or a quart of milk or a box of cereal if he wants to be President of all the people.

It is about the practice of drawing conclusions about whether one is in touch, or not, based on questions that even many on DU acknowledge they cannot answer.

He is an out of touch billionaire looking to protect his tax cut and screw the Democratic party.

But his inability to declare the price of Cheerios is completely irrelevant to that question.

the fact he is out of touch.

if knowing the price of Cheerios is an essential element of being in touch.

Personally, I keep track of the prices for the things that are staples for me (dried beans, cheese, tuna, greens, nuts) - there is no real point for me to keep track of an item I would not - in a quarter of a century - eat. That's not an illustration that I'm out of touch - it is an illustration of a diabetes-based dietary restriction that prohibits me from any significant carb consumption.

I have no reason to know the price of Cheerios - so I don't. I have no idea why Schultz doesn't - it may be because he eats Cheerios but has a personal shopper (suggesting he is out of touch); it may be becasue he doesn't eat Cheerios (based on preference or dietary restriction) (which says nothing at all about whehter he is in touch or not - it is simply a reflection of the reality that Cheerios is not in his diet).

So not - it is not (without additional information) an illustration that he is out of touch.

But Schultz is.

with whether you are running for President.

If knowing the price of a box of Cheerios is an essential element of being in touch, it is for everyone. Not just for those running for president.

Find a better test. If he's really out-of-touch (as I suspect he is), find a realistic test - or other evidence - that supports that assertion.

Don't rely on a nonsensical question that only people who eat breakfast cereals (or who buy for family members who eat breakfast cerials) would have reason to know - unless you first establish he falls into one of those categories.

and whether you like it or not it is an illustration that he is out of touch with common people.

There are plenty of reasons to hate Schultz, and it would almost certainly be pretty easy to establish he is out of touch with what the average American goes through.

But a "gotcha" question isn't how you do it.

Last edited Wed Jan 30, 2019, 04:30 PM - Edit history (1)

Of course, the importance of knowing the price of a good breakfast goes without saying -- it's apparent to any student of history that all the best Presidents did their own grocery shopping. Just look at Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Truman - they all knew the price of a good breakfast cereal.

If any you hippies out there doubt that a bowl of Cheerios make for a good breakfast, I have just one thing to say to you:

What's good for General Mills is good for America.

"Um ... somewhere between 2 and 6 dollars, not quite sure on today's prices"?

I mean ... nobody is expecting the guy to go '$3.79, according to the last Safeway flyer I got', ya know?

To not even be able come up with a reasonable guess ... is pretty illuminating, IMHO.

Who gives a rat's ass about some trivia question about some random consumer product that some peple buy?

What about taxes? What about civil rights? What about the US role in the world?

How does knowledge of the price of Cheerios compare?

Any figure I named would just be a wild guess - I literally have not looked at the price of Cheerios for more than a quarter of a century.

I have had no reason to look at the price of Cheerios (or any other breakfast cerial) for at least that long - and it's kind of offensive to suggest that knowing the price of a specific breakfast cereal is an essential ingredient of being in touch with everyday life.

FWIW, I spend between $5 and $7 per day on food (typically closer to $5), so it's not like I'm living high on the hog. I just dont' eat now (and never have eaten) breakfast cereal. My sole exposure to the cost of Cheerios was more than a quarter of a century ago, when I had a small child who ate them.

really been able to name the price of any grocery item - for the simple reason that he never did the grocery shopping - my mother did.

My answer would be $1.99 - $4.99 depending on the store and sale.

It’s weird to see DUers defending Schultz on this.

Milk, eggs, cereal, bread.

Should be able to come up with something other than deer in headlights, lol.

If I do go down the aisle because there is something at the other end of the aisle I am heading toward, I'm not looking at shelf-tags as I go buy. I have no reason to know that information - so why bother to collect it.

I have no idea what the answer is.

It was a dumb question.

Having said that, he's still an asshole.

I don't memorize the cost of each individual item I buy.

If you ask me how much weekly groceries cost, now we are talking.

At the end of the day that’s the number that matters most.

This guy is a tool.

Do you never go to the grocery store? Do you never wander the aisles and notice prices?

Whether you buy a thing or not, it does show that you're out of touch if you don't have an idea what a common item like a box of cereal costs.

Sid

Most people are not running for President. If Sergeant Schultz wants to be President, he needs to know more about the lives of the people he wants to lead. His 'I know nothing' responses just expose him as the out of touch elitist that he is.

+1

Sid

Pick it up on the way home, never have to go in the store. I've never had a particular need to know what Cheerios cost, as I never buy them. If that makes me out of touch, then so be it.

No, it doesn't. There are all sorts of common items in touch people buy and don't buy.

He's out of touch because he's a billionaire who doesn't want the extreme rich to be taxed more not because he doesn't know what a box of Cheerios costs.

Folks seem defensive because they don’t know the answer to the question either, and don’t seem to understand why the question is valid

Seems to me Starbucks branded themselves as a “you deserve a special treat for yourself” niche ( so pay up)

He should by that measure alone have a better understanding of the average consumer and what they spend on a very commonly consumed item

The sell a cereal and oat milk latte

The cereal powder is composed of the exact same ingreadients as guess what?

Cheerios

so I don't eat cereal often, but I have a ballpark idea.

You should hear my Uncle Nick talk about how cheap cereal was when he grew up! ha

And the "I'm not paying $4 for a box of cereal" arguments in the grocery store. This was the late 80s/early 90s.

Yet I just bought 2 (store brand) cereals for $1.50 each at Wegman's last week.

Was close to 5 dollars a box.

I imagine though if he guessed he would have said something extreme like 50 cents or 20 dollars.

would be if he knows what percent of the nation's wealth is owned by the richest 1 percent of Americans. (Answer: just over 38 percent)

That is something he should be expected to know.

My educated guess was $3 for a box of Cheerios. I just looked it up. I was right. I regularly shop in supermarkets, so I have a decent idea of the cost of food.

The point is that Schultz has no idea what anything costs. He doesn't buy stuff like that. Someone else does. I doubt he has pushed a supermarket shopping cart through a supermarket in years, if ever.

He has no idea what a box of cereal costs. And that's a problem. He is out of touch with consumer reality. Ask him how much an average new car costs in the United States. He'd probably say something like $50,000. He doesn't know that new cars are available in a price range starting at about $15,000. He simply has no idea.

Like most wealthy people, the actual cost of goods and services are not a concern for him. He doesn't know, because it doesn't matter to him in any real way.

in other words go away, howard

I might look at it in the store, but I don't remember it.

Perspective.

You would think. Apparently i'm bad wrong.

I always just throw what I want into the basket.

My God breakfast cereal is expensive.

or any other cereal, costs.

Someone like Schultz had probably not been inside a grocery store in decades. People like that don't do their own grocery shopping. He probably doesn't buy his own underwear, either.

I understand the essential point about how out-of-touch he and other gazillionaires are. This would be even more true of the Donald.

A wealthy candidate IS going to be asked that question in one form or another, early on.

Stupid not to be ready for it.

And shocking that he couldn't punt.

"Well, I can tell you the price of a good cuppa joe, and where to get one!"

answered something like, “I have to watch my carbs, but I can tell you that a dozen eggs go for $3-7, depending on whether you want organic, free range, or not.”

I bought many a box when I had small children, but that's not something I buy now. In addition, I could not answer precisely the cost of the cereals I do buy. Why? The difference in cost between the healthy cereals available are sufficiently small that I don't look at the cost. Yes, I KNOW many people will make a choice based on a difference of less than a dollar and that I am fortunate that I don't have to that even as a non billionaire.

He could have said something like less than $5. This is a gotya question - with different grocery store products.

n/t