Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Things Are Bad Now, But You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
Zubu Brothers ^ | 4-21-2022 | Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Posted on 04/21/2022 6:24:24 PM PDT by blam

At this moment, food prices all over America are at incredibly low levels. I know what many of you must be thinking. You must be thinking that I have lost my mind, because food prices have been rising at a very rapid rate all over the country. But when I say that food prices are at “incredibly low levels”, I am not comparing them to where they were in the past. Rather, I am comparing current prices to where they will be in the future. Yes, things are bad now, but food prices will be much higher a year or two from now.

The global fertilizer crisis certainly isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it is only going to intensify.

The same thing could be said about the war in Ukraine. Peace talks are absolutely dead, and so it looks like fighting between two of the most critical breadbaskets in the world will continue for months to come.

Meanwhile, the bird flu pandemic continues to wipe out millions of chickens and turkeys all over the globe.

We have never seen a “perfect storm” quite like this, but of course some of the factors that will be driving up food prices are entirely self-inflicted.

For example, the Chinese government didn’t need to lock down nearly 400 million people in a desperate attempt to prevent the spread of COVID. The past two years have provided ample evidence that such lockdowns are quite foolish, but the Chinese went ahead anyway.

As a result, there are now hundreds of commercial ships waiting impatiently off the coast of Shanghai.

MAP: Commercial ships waiting offshore after Shanghai strict lockdown pic.twitter.com/m0qST4v92Y

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) April 19, 2022

Those are giant cargo ships that bring stuff across the Pacific Ocean to us.

If the Chinese don’t loosen up, many of our store shelves will become quite empty in the months ahead.

And it isn’t just commercial ships that are sitting idle…

Shanghai is one of the largest manufacturing centers in China, with heavy concentrations of automotive and electronics suppliers. It is home to the largest container port in the world and a major airport that serves inbound and outbound air cargo. Exports produced in Shanghai account for 7.2% of China’s total volume and about 20% of China’s export container throughput moves through the port there, according to the BBVA report.

Most warehouses and plants are closed, nine out of 10 trucks are sidelined, the port and airport have limited function, shipping units are stranded in the wrong places, and freight is piling up.

Needless to say, many of our major retailers simply could not operate without the goods that they import from China.

So we better hope that this potential nightmare gets resolved very soon.

Here in the United States, food prices have been moving higher for months. Just check out these numbers…

The average price of butter grew 11.9% in the last year. Meat has been especially affected by supply chain issues, with 100% meat frankfurters jumping 35.2% since March of 2021 to an average price of $5.18 per pound. Ground chuck, pork chops, and whole chicken showed year-over-year price increases of 11.3%, 15%, and 11.7%, respectively.

Those figures may look bad to you, but the truth is that they only represent the very early chapters of this crisis.

Things are going to get much worse, and here in April anecdotal reports seem to indicate that food price increases seem to be accelerating.

Earlier today, my attention was drawn to a thread on a popular Internet forum where people were discussing recent price increases that they had seen at their local stores. The following are a few examples that I pulled out of that thread…

◾“$10. for 1 lb. Bacon”

◾“5.19 for one pound of land o lakes butter”

◾“a 34 oz can of coffee was $6.99 now is $9.99”

◾“$1.09 for a single avocado”

◾“$2.31 for a head of iceberg lettuce”

◾“I shop for my elderly parents they buy Butterscotch Krimpets every week. Were 2.49 a box now 4.49.”

◾“I saw 15.99 per pound for ribeye steak at a grocery store in northeast Tennessee.”

◾“Paid $12.95 for a pack of raw chicken thighs a few days ago. Normally they are $3.00 – $4.00”

And thanks to the horrifying bird flu pandemic which is sweeping the nation, the price of eggs is going completely nuts…

The losses to egg-laying flocks have led to producers desperately racing to meet market demands for eggs and egg products, with egg prices increasing as a result. The average price of a dozen eggs is now close to $3.00, up from $1.60 at the beginning of the year, according to the USDA’s national egg report.

If you think that these prices are wild, just wait until they double from their current levels.

All over the world, a great battle for food resources has begun. The Chinese saw this coming in advance, and so they have been engaged in the largest stockpiling program that any of us have ever seen. I wrote about this back in December, but back then most people didn’t understand the true significance of that article.

At that time, the amount of food that the Chinese had already accumulated was already extremely impressive…

Less than 20% of the world’s population has managed to stockpile more than half of the globe’s maize and other grains, leading to steep price increases across the planet and dropping more countries into famine.

The hoarding is taking place in China.

Has the U.S. been doing something similar?

Of course not.

When things get really bad in this country, you will be on your own.

So I hope that you have been preparing for that.

Since the war in Ukraine started, nation after nation has started to implement export restrictions, and a global scramble for agricultural commodities has steadily pushed up prices.

Nobody wants to be caught empty-handed when the music stops, and so there is a race to secure precious supplies while it is still possible to do so.

Sadly, the poorest parts of the world will end up suffering the most as the wealthy countries grab what they can. The dramatic spike that we will soon see in global hunger will be absolutely heartbreaking.

But nobody can say that we weren’t warned in advance. This sort of collapse has been coming for a long time, and now it has arrived.

I would encourage you to stockpile food at these “relatively low prices” while you have the opportunity to do so, because they are only going to go higher from here.


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: economy; food; foodshortages; inflation; prepping; prices; shortages; zubu
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-77 last
To: blam

I’ll be right over to fill-up my Jeep Grand Cherokee’s 64cuft cargo bay with crates.


61 posted on 04/22/2022 9:19:56 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: carriage_hill
"I’ll be right over to fill-up my Jeep Grand Cherokee’s 64cuft cargo bay with crates."

(ahem) My friends and relatives usually call before they come.

62 posted on 04/22/2022 9:23:04 AM PDT by blam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: blam

Is your number still 000-000-blam?


63 posted on 04/22/2022 9:43:51 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: glennaro
...the administration’s plan to deal with this is to wear a mask ... and everything will be just fine then.
Sure, we can't eat if we're masked up.
64 posted on 04/22/2022 10:15:00 AM PDT by citizen (Thieves of private property pass their lives in chains; thieves of public prop. in riches and luxury)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: blam

Potato supplies around here are getting thin. There are still potatoes to buy, but the section isn’t nearly as full as it used to be, and there are a lot more damaged, green, or rotten potatoes in the mix. Dad brought home a bag that ended up mostly seed potatoes, because there just wasn’t much left after cutting around the bad spots. It made me really glad I had ordered so many seed potatoes back in December. I’m planning on a huge potato patch.

Also, bird seed is getting expensive. I use it as a treat for my laying hens, but this year I’ll be planting lots of sunflower seeds and millet so I can mix my own. That’s in addition to feed crops in case their pellets get too expensive or hard to find. Good thing they like squash!


65 posted on 04/22/2022 10:45:54 AM PDT by Ellendra (A single lie on our side does more damage than a thousand lies on their side.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blam
There are approximately 2500 different kinds of potatoes in Peru and Bolivia. Ireland's downfall was they were dependent on the potato that had the blight...many other potatoes did not.

This is one of the many reasons I've started experimenting with true potato seed (TPS). Each seed will produce a plant with slightly different traits, which means the chance of some plants being resistant or immune to a certain disease is far higher than it would be with a monoculture. The downside is, each plant is a little different, and thus there's a chance of undesirable traits showing up as well. But, I'm a plant breeder, and this is the kind of gamble I enjoy :)
66 posted on 04/22/2022 11:04:39 AM PDT by Ellendra (A single lie on our side does more damage than a thousand lies on their side.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: carriage_hill

Do you have a Lidls by you? For most things they are cheaper than Walmart.

Last week I paid $1.25 for jumbo.

Hearing Aldi’s is even cheaper.

Even still here in the DC area at regular grocery stores eggs this week are about $2.60.

Wonder why some states are getting hit so much harder.

I’m sure it’s not political./s


67 posted on 04/22/2022 3:47:51 PM PDT by lizma2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Arcadian Empire; Jane Long; GOPJ

I’m pretty sure the war is between govt’s and the citizens of the world.

Unfortunately the citizens of the world appear to be too stupid to realize they are being savaged... over and over again.

No bueno for us....


68 posted on 04/22/2022 4:56:49 PM PDT by Sarcazmo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: sport

“No other Country in the World indoctrinates its Citizens to hate their Country “

Yes, that would be perfectly ridiculous.

The only conclusion I can come to is that “leadership” is not ours right now. So we got a problem.

Apathy and tolerance got us here... it’s our fault.

The left is not apathetic and it has a zero tolerance policy. You try to do one little thing, like protect kids from grooming and they go absolutely asymmetrically apeshit. This is what we should have been doing all along.


69 posted on 04/22/2022 5:03:16 PM PDT by Sarcazmo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: HartleyMBaldwin

“Last time I didn’t buy one, a lousy Egg McMuffin was $5.29.”

My entire McDonald’s breakfast, every day pretty much, is $6.06.

Egg&cheese biscuit
Medium drink
Medium fry


70 posted on 04/22/2022 5:09:11 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: alexander_busek

I spoke of Central America which is not just across the border. I spent three and a half years of my life in Latina America. There are paradise places there as well as shanty towns. And despite Leftwing propaganda that places like El Salvador have just rich and poor with no middle class, there is a huge middle class there. In a food shortage scenario, food-growing places become more attractive.

I did not say “merely” fruit-growing trees but listed several reasons. Maybe you should speak in facts instead of just calling me an “idiot”.


71 posted on 04/22/2022 5:41:37 PM PDT by Monterrosa-24 (To the barricades !!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: steve86

$6.06 every day is over $2200 a year. I can’t afford to spend that at McDonald’s, myself. That’s more than three mortgage payments.


72 posted on 04/22/2022 7:05:28 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: Monterrosa-24
I did not say “merely” fruit-growing trees but listed several reasons.

Indeed! You did list several reasons:

Or ... the migration may start going the other way. There are lots of low-maintenance fruit trees in Central America. They still use a lot of oxen teams for plowing. They use lots of natural fertilizers. The large corn fields and cane fields get plenty of petro-based fertilizers but the first year without those will lower the yield but the harvest would still be substantial. They already ignore the protections on such things as sea turtle eggs and more harvesting prohibitions and/or limits would be ignored if things got tough.

I'm sorry, but as interesting as these details are, I still don't think that they in any way justify a sanguine attitude about significant numbers of spoiled, pampered, consumer-oriented Generation-Z Americans fleeing to Central America.

The image of a young, entitled, latte-drinking pyjama boy driving a team of oxen and ploughing a field evoked laughter in me.

The absurdity!

Maybe you should speak in facts instead of just calling me an “idiot”.

I didn't call you an "idiot" - but I sincerely regret creating the impression that I had.

Regards,

73 posted on 04/22/2022 10:24:17 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: alexander_busek

The reverse migration would be among Latinos not Gringos.


74 posted on 04/23/2022 12:23:51 AM PDT by Monterrosa-24 (To the barricades !!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: Monterrosa-24
The reverse migration would be among Latinos not Gringos.

That is a fundamental distinction.

Not being an expert on Latin American conditions (as you are), I will withhold my opinion - but I concede that it might be plausible.

Regards,

75 posted on 04/23/2022 3:32:20 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: lizma2

I’ve never heard of a Lidls in the York area. I usually shop at Weis Market, where I’ve been going for 25+yrs. I’ll have to stop by Aldi and check their prices.


76 posted on 04/23/2022 5:50:13 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: HartleyMBaldwin

OMG $2200 😳 I didn’t realize that.

I do use points from the McD app to get free items whenever I can.


77 posted on 04/23/2022 1:08:55 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-77 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson