Made it to another Friday, and I'd bet most of us were shivering like a dog crapping bones.We in the Midwest are due for a bit of a thaw this weekend, with temps reaching into the mid THIRTIES! (breakout the sunblock and the flip-flops...)
And don't forget the sunglasses...(for the GLARE off of the snow, and not because the future's THAT bright).
I know the bitter cold has been taking it's toll on the boys & girls behind the shield in our city.
I've been hearing a LOT of "dead battery" calls
come across the radio.Used to be an old way around that...long before the advent of all this power-sapping technology we now dump into the patrol cruisers.
You carry a SPARE battery in the trunk and "trickle-charge" it off of the engine. I
f the MAIN battery craps out, you flip a switch under the dash and PRESTO, to STILL have a battery to run the car, lights and siren.But that was "old-school"...too "complicated" to figure out these days, I suppose.
It DID keep the police cars RUNNING, until you got back to the barn and swapped out the dead battery. Better than being out-of-service while waiting for the support truck to arrive at your *20*.
*** Have you heard the news?
Food prices are on the RISE.
Um, didn't I mention this a while back, and hasn't Glenn Beck been saying this for a long time, along with a lot of other financial people?
Well, I heard it again TODAY, and it's one of those moments that brings one of those wry smirks across one's face.
It's like YOU KNEW THIS, so why is everyone else a few months behind?
I know other bloggers have mentioned the whole "CORN" gig (gadlfy and myself for two) and the domino effect it's having across the board with other foods.You want to talk "STAPLE OF LIFE" stuff...you HAVE to include CORN.
SO MUCH of our foods contain CORN these days.
Meat on the hoof or wing (fed by corn), corn SYRUP (soft drinks, sweeteners, and juices), cereals (corn flakes, frosted flakes, etc), and the list grows longer the more you think about it.
We NEED corn to survive, but recently our corn "reserves" have dropped to a 15 year LOW.
Some could say we can get by without corn (we can all eat RICE...like every other 3rd world nation starving to death).
Think of CORN much like you think of OIL.We don't have an infinite supply (because we don't have an infinite supply of LAND), and the amount at hand is determinate upon the "crop yield".
We have some lousy weather...we get LESS corn.
Pretty simple, huh?
But there is another factor that's mucking this all up...
We are now using corn for ETHANOL.
We're growing corn specifically to support an industry of "alternative fuel", that has been PROVEN to be MORE costly per barrel to refine than OIL, gets about 75% of the energy-producing capabilities of regular gasoline (fewer BTUs per gallon), and takes away from the feed crops for both animals AND mankind.And that's the GOOD news.
Here's a 2007 essay on ethanol starving the poor:
http://www.nytimes.com/cfr/world/20070501faessay_v86n3_runge_senauer.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
Here's the corn IMPORT levels of 35 nations with highest usage (other than the USA):
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/agr_gra_cor_imp-agriculture-grains-corn-imports
And here's some stats about our corn EXPORTS:
http://www.suite101.com/content/most-valuable-us-food-export-is-corn-a61875#
Now think on this...
We NEED to export corn...it's good for our economy...REAL good.
And other nations NEED to import it.
What do you think would happen if we keep increasing our exports while not increasing our crop sizes (available land)?
If you said higher prices at our stores...give yourself a GOLD STAR.
And this is exclusive from all that ETHANOL production...this is ONLY food & feed.
We're painting ourselves into a really nice corner, are we not?
A runaway train that we can't afford to hit the brakes on...pretty interesting stuff.
I've seen prices inching up over the last year, in damn near everything.
What used to cost $1 and provide 13 ounces of dish washing detergent is NOW only 10 ounces for the same price.On the RIGHT is the "old" DAWN - 14.2 ounces...cost about a buck a bottle two years ago.
On the LEFT is the "new" DAWN...about 10 ounces...same price.
What a "bargain", hmm?
Here's another...
Toilet paper has also "shrunk" in size.
Think I'm lying?...check this out.
On the RIGHT is the "old" Angel Soft TP (regular size) from about a year ago. On the LEFT is what we got the other week. (for about $1.22 for a 4-pack)
The RIGHT one is CLEARLY LARGER in size.
And the cardboard ROLL on the LEFT is now LARGER (can fit INSIDE the old roll - great if you want to make a telescope for the kids).Check the price of ground beef.
What USED to cost a "mere" $2.99 a pound for a 75% lean - 25% fat content ground chuck is now more than fifty cents costlier (per pound).
The leaner cuts like 85% lean - 15% fat content is higher still.
Fish is getting outrageous in price. Salmon is looking more like a delicacy than a regular fish you could eat every day.
More whitefish are being substituted for "fake crab" meat (which isn't bad if you do it up right).
Milk has gone from $1.99 a gallon up to $2.29 a gallon (still cheaper than gasoline, but lousy as a fuel source in ANY vehicle...lol)
Boxed cereals that used to be SIXTEEN ounces in weight are now TWELVE ounces (and change) for about the same price as the former larger counterparts.Cream of wheat has been "off the chart" for years...over THREE bucks for one container, compared to a dollar (and change) for a larger container of GRITS (with oatmeal somewhere in between, thankfully).
What USED to cost you say...FIFTY bucks at the grocery (per week), can now EASILY cost you SIXTY+ dollars each and every week. And that's for TWO people (and 2 cats) with a sense of frugality that don't live at the fast-food joints.
(and with ever-growing kids, the increases can be EXPONENTIAL...)
Figure close to a 20% RISE in costs across the board (so far)...and I don't think it will stop there.
Now, I said all THAT...to say THIS:
It always comes down to KNOWLEDGE...knowing WHAT might be coming down the pike...and being PREPARED for it in some manner.
Keep tabs on those prices, and budget as best you can.
YOU are the one in control here...it's YOUR money and YOUR choices.So, make the best damn choices you can, and make 'em as often as you need.
Have yourselves a great weekend.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and as always...
Stay safe out there, America.
8 comments:
Resizing the food packages has been one of my pet peeves for a long time. It's like they think we are stupid and won't notice. I would rather they would just up the price, so everyone would know it is a price increase, instead of sneaking it in. Seems dishonest to me. I hope you and Mrs. G are keeping warm up there.
According to Breitbart:
"World food prices reached their highest level ever recorded in January and are set to keep rising for months, the UN food agency said on Thursday, warning that the hardest-hit countries could face turmoil."
"Rising food prices have been cited among the driving forces behind recent popular revolts in north Africa, including the uprising in Egypt and the toppling of Tunisia's long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali."
The Great Recession did not stop our government's stupidness and now we now face 15% ethanol blends that will permanently foul up our engines.
http://www.hybridcars.com/news/ethanols-big-win-28836.html
Gosh Bob G., I am having a terrible influence on you. Now you are making a habit of taking on the world instead of the neighborhood! Another good post that got me reading more about food prices.
MSN:
I admit it's a sneaky deal at the grocery (and most everywhere else), but the prodicers SHOULD own UP to this deceprtion with the American public.
We're not ALL stupid (or on the governemnt dole).
Thanks for sliding on up here today and commenting.
We're keeping warm here...hope YOU are doing likewise.
Stay safe.
Gadfly:
Yeah, I've adopted you as my world-wide MUSE...LOL.
Seriously, you never cease to amaze me with all the cogent points you make in EVERY post of yours.
When I want truth in news in the blogosphere...I know EXACTLY where to go.
There are TWO ways to "bend" public opinion to a specific goal.
One is MEDICINE, the other is FOOD.
Mess with EITHER one, and you CAN turn the masses against anyone at anytime...for ANY reason.
Stalin knew that much, and we ALL know how that shook out.
I'm not going to take on the world here.
I'm just demonstrating (in some small way) how something at the corner grocery can have repercussions across the face of the planet...and vice versa.
Glad you could dig yourself free and stop on by today.
Much appreciated.
Stay safe out there.
The Feds are increasing our supply of currency by 65%. That is the root cause of inflation, and there is no way possible to avoid it. Even if the government prints out more money than they admit to (something that would not surprise me) it still eventually factors into people’s spending habits, which then leads to increased prices.
The spike in gold and silver prices was an early indicator of what was going on here. Their real value was not going up. Instead, the prices were simply adjusting to reflect the lower value of the dollar. Food and just about every other commodity will quickly follow suit now. That $2.00 gallon of milk? - you can probably expect it to eventually settle at around $3.33.
Phil:
OH, the deflation of our currency DEFINITELY has a major bearing on the rising prices.
It's the whole YIN-YANG deal here.
You can't DECREASE the value of something WITHOUT it causing the INCREASE of something else (like EVERYTHING else).
A skewed form of "parity" to be sure.
And while it's nice (and a noble cause) to be able to help ALL those other nations, we should ALWAYS try to HELP OUR NATION first.
And we can't do it by simply printing more money, that's for sure.
Hey, thanks for stopping by during this "heat wave" (above freezing for a change) and commenting today.
You stay safe up there, Buddy!
i eat at fazzoli's once and a blue moon. i love the origanal submarino. the problem? well its getting smaller. ALOT smaller. about 10 years ago it was so big they cut it in half and you could save half of it for later. then it got a little too small for cutting. but, it was big enough in your hands and yummy enough that it really didnt matter that much. so i went last night. that puppy was small. a one hand job if i ever saw any. and cutting it in two would have been a complete joke. free breadsticks at the drive threw another joke. ok, so we get our stuff and drove down the street a little to see what stores there were in our new area since we havent explored the heck out of it yet. my daughter opens the bag and says what a waste of a huge bag with nothing in it (hardly). so i drove back around to get the breadsticks. we had thought about another store (little ceasers) so she goes in to get 12. normally we only get 6. comes back out. well i was starving and eating my sub that was smaller then sub way. she opens her pizza box and says omg. these are miniture cheese pizzas. i mean the 2 pieces of pizza looked like barbie could eat it. she was happy she eneded up getting 12 breadsticks. fazzoli's sucks. you want food dont go there.
Indy:
Sorry to hear that about Fazzoli's...used to be a good place from what I heard, but you convinced me to beg off.
Betcha SUBWAY is doing the same thing.
Pizza for Barbie?
At least SHE'S eating good for cheap these days, eh?
Thnaks for stopping by and commenting.
Stay safe down there.
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