Gawker names Spam one of 10 recession winners

Gawker places the Minnesota-made meat in high esteem, alongside Wal-Mart, online porn, and crystal meth dealers. The piece references an Advertising Age article that says the beauty of Spam is that it isn't actually as cheap as consumers perceive it to be.

The average price of a can of Spam is up almost 7% to $2.62, or 22¢ per ounce, according to the AP. That makes it costlier than both the average retail price of pork, 18¢ per ounce, and ground beef, 14¢, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Not exactly a bargain.

This reasoning is a bit simplistic, though. The price of ground beef can vary quite a bit, for example, depending on the fat content, and the price per ounce of a cheaper pork cut may include fat and bone that won't be eaten. Also, Ad Age neglects to account for the convenience factor--you won't be eating ground beef straght from the package (unless you're from Wisconsin and you eat cannibal sandwiches, but that's another story...). And time is money, right?