Posted on 05/06/2021 3:02:19 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal
Did you know that the price of corn has risen 142 percent in the last 12 months? Of course, corn is used in hundreds of different products we buy at the grocery store, and so everyone is going to feel the pain of this price increase. But it isn’t just the price of corn that is going crazy.
We are seeing food prices shoot up dramatically all across the industry, and experts are warning that this is just the very beginning. So if you think that food prices are bad now, just wait, because they are going to get a whole lot worse. Typically, Americans spend approximately 10 percent of their disposable personal incomes on food.
The following comes directly from the USDA website… In 2019, Americans spent an average of 9.5 percent of their disposable personal incomes on food—divided between food at home (4.9 percent) and food away from home (4.6 percent). Between 1960 and 1998, the average share of disposable personal income spent on total food by Americans, on average, fell from 17.0 to 10.1 percent, driven by a declining share of income spent on food at home. Needless to say, the poorest Americans spend more of their incomes on food than the richest Americans.
According to the USDA, the poorest households spent an average of 36 percent of their disposable personal incomes on food in 2019… As their incomes rise, households spend more money on food, but it represents a smaller overall budget share. In 2019, households in the lowest income quintile spent an average of $4,400 on food (representing 36.0 percent of income), while households in the highest income quintile spent an average of $13,987 on food (representing 8.0 percent of income).
Needless to say, the final numbers for 2020 will be quite a bit higher, and many believe that eventually, the percentage of disposable personal income that the average U.S. household spends on food will reach 40 percent. That would mean that many poor households would end up spending well over 50 percent of their personal disposable incomes just on food. At one time that would have been unimaginable, but now everything is changing.
As I noted above, the price of corn has increased 142 percent since this time last year… Corn prices have jumped roughly 142% over the past year to $7.56 per bushel, the highest price seen in eight years for the crop. A drought in Brazil and increased demand in China have put pressure on global suppliers.
In other areas, we are seeing more moderate inflation, but overall we just witnessed the largest increase in food inflation “in almost nine years”… The average prices in March of 2021 for pork chops and chicken breasts are both up more than 10% compared to March of 2020. Eggs and cheddar cheese are both up 6%. Looking at all consumer goods as a whole, the latest inflation data in the Consumer Price Index from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the largest month-to-month increase in almost nine years.
Meanwhile, the price of lumber just continues to shoot even higher. In New Jersey, one man says that the total cost of lumber used in building his new home will reach $70,000… Tom McCarthy can’t finish building a home in Bergen County, New Jersey because of the lumber shortage. “There are pieces of wood that we can’t find,” said McCarthy, a real estate broker with the Chen Agency who also builds homes with his father on the side.
McCarthy estimates the cost of lumber for the home will hit $70,000, nearly double the cost of building the exact same home in a nearby town just eight months ago. Isn’t that nuts? Instead of building a new home, you could try buying an existing one instead, but real estate prices in many areas have gotten completely insane. In northern California, one house recently sold for more than a million dollars over listing price…
When a house in Berkeley sold for more than $1 million over its list price in late March 2021, it was covered in media outlets across the Bay Area, including this one. While the Berkeley sale was particularly sensational — it sold for double its list price and received 29 offers — these individual stories are becoming more common in today’s real estate market, according to recent data and anecdotes from real estate professionals. I never imagined that I would see such a thing happen. But one real estate agent says that such wild bidding wars are becoming increasingly common.
And that’s especially true in the East Bay. “People are not surprised when a home goes $1 million over,” said Josh Dickinson, the founder of real estate agency Zip Code East Bay. “When my clients see a house for $1.9 million they’re almost conditioned to think it’ll go over $3 million in Piedmont or North Berkeley.”
This is what the beginning stages of hyperinflation look like, but Federal Reserve officials insist that we have nothing to be concerned about.
In fact, Eric Rosengren just told the press that the crazy inflation we are seeing now “is likely to prove temporary”…
Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren in an interview with MarketWatch on Wednesday dismissed talk of scaling back asset purchases as premature, and said temporary factors pushing up inflation this spring won’t last.
“My view is that this acceleration in the rate of price increases is likely to prove temporary,” Rosengren said Wednesday.
Do you believe him?
I don’t.
As Simon Black has pointed out, the federal government is just going to continue to borrow and spend trillions upon trillions of dollars…
This is the big one. The US federal government is hoping to spend a whopping $11 TRILLION this year, between the regular budget, COVID stimulus already passed, and all the new legislation they’re proposing.
And it’s only May.
Obviously Uncle Sam doesn’t have the money. So they have to borrow it.
Almost everybody loved it when the federal government started sending out big, fat stimulus checks.
But you aren’t going to love it when a cart of food costs you $400 at the grocery store.
Whenever the government hands out “free money”, someone has got to pay for it, and one way we are paying for it is through higher prices.
If you do not believe that this is a major national crisis yet, you will soon, because it won’t be too long before most of the country is loudly complaining about how nightmarish inflation has become.
So, that’s a reason to throw half of the country/fellow conservatives under the bus, as far as concern goes?
No man is an island.
You used to be able to get a beef and bean burrito at Taco Bell, for $2.04 last month. Today it is $2.74. A nearly 75% increase. This is how you pay back your stimulus checks.
Ayn Rand was dead right. You should read her book, THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS. The link is to her book in PDF format. Download, read, and learn. I am not your mother, your father, or your care taker. You are.
All these folks are sitting at home collecting government money, so fewer goods overall are likely being produced. All that money chasing fewer goods = inflation.
Weimar is on the way, hopefully NOT to be followed by Yugoslavia and/or Rwanda.
PING!
Did you get a wheelbarrow?
By your tag, I assume your much like me and mine. I have it easy with EE/CPE and years of good exp. someone will pay for it until they won’t. When that happens then most people are very screwed. I have a homestead, land ...,
Inflation will/can eat so many up it will be crazy. It will be interesting to see how it works out. I will be on the better side of 90% until i won’t be.
P.S. I didn’t hear you complain about rich white guys not getting the thousands of dollars in covid money that was being passed around. We got nothing but the tax bill to pay for it all. I guess your only concern is when you want to get something. How is that any different than any other gibsmedats??
Apples and oranges LOL
Chips I can eat out of the bag and discard the bag.
Chx breast I have to cook, make an effort to make it tasty, then clean the pots.
Beans & Rice, Rice & Beans.
Good thing I LIKE Beans & Rice and Rice & Beans!
Hopefully Mother Government will ‘gift’ us all rice cookers as they did in, ‘Cuber’!
I wonder if any of the fine print in Crazy Uncle Joe’s ‘budget’ includes that?
We’re so screwed. :(
No, but I do have a five-gallon bucket.
P.S. I didn’t hear you complain about rich white guys not getting the thousands of dollars in covid money that was being passed around. We got nothing but the tax bill to pay for it all. I guess your only concern is when you want to get something. How is that any different than any other gibsmedats??
What are you even talking about? You have no idea.
What checks?
No reason for me to bash, or mock, those who did, though. (The most I ever said was, You’re welcome!)
And, no reason for me to wish ill fates, for those who did receive checks, when inflation kicks a lot of (conservatives) butts.
How about stepping off of that high horse you’re on?
While the 100 Billion 2A bullets are gathering dust. Lot of good 2A did to us.
“I have also expanded my hydroponics production and purchase more land next to my house to grow food on.”
Would you be so kind as to visit our Weekly Garden Thread and tell us about your hydroponic set up? Many of us Gardeners are interested in that!
New thread starts on Saturday morning, May 8th - AFTER I’ve had my coffee. I’ll ping you with the rest of the crew - and I will take you off the Ping List immediately if you don’t want to be on it. Promise! :)
We stopped at a little Mexican restaurant, on the TX border, one time....and their menu consisted of ....
Beans and rice plate
Bean soup with rice bowl
Beans and rice on a corn tortilla with cheese
You get the idea.
I could picture some grandma in the little kitchen standing over a HUGE pot of freshly made pinto beans.
They were delicious, btw. :-)
Dems will borrow money into the next century to keep high inflation from happening....They remember Jimmy Carter was a failure and it made way for Reagan.....2024 is not that far off,People suffering Trump can remind them ,you had it good when I was in the white house....
“...it sold for double its list price and received 29 offers — these individual stories are becoming more common in today’s real estate market, according to recent data and anecdotes from real estate professionals.”
If any of you want to get out from under a huge mortgage and downsize - NOW is the time. On average, in the Midwest at least, Sellers are getting 7% over their listing price with lots of offers on the table and quick sales.
My Realtor, who is also a good friend of many years, is busier than she’s ever been these days. I sold my ‘farmette’ in under 30 days 5 years ago - I can only imagine the Bidding Wars I’d have on it these days! Grrrr! ;)
Almaden california 1960’s 30,000
2021,3 million......
“That and a cheap can of Swanson’s chicken breast and maybe throw in a can of mushrooms - DINNA IZ SERVEDA! Maybe buy a candle from the Dollar Store and put on some Barry White music.”
I retired at 56. The above was my LIFE for many years, LOL!
P.S. Drain the chicken, but use that ‘broth’ as a portion of your total liquid. You’re living like a KING! :)
“What a damned time to retire.”
If your skills and/or hobbies are marketable, no reason you can’t supplement your income ‘on the side.’ ;)
I retired in 2016. Trust me. You. Will. Love. It. :)
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