Posted on 08/15/2012 12:56:20 PM PDT by IbJensen
CNSNews.com) - The average price of ground beef hit a record high in the United States in July, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The BLS has been tracking the average price of a pound of 100% ground beef since 1984. In July, it cost $3.085, up from $3.007 in June.
Prior to June, the average cost of 100% ground beef in the United States had never topped $3.00.
In January 1984, the first month BLS tracked the price off 100% ground beef, the price was $1.29 per pound. Had that price merely tracked the rate of overall inflation, according to the BLS inflation calculator, it would have risen to $2.66 per pound by 2009, when President Obama took office. However, between 1984 and 2009, the average price for a pound of 100% ground beef did not increase as much as overall inflation. Thus, in January 2009, when Obama was inaugurated it was only $2.357.
Since January 2009, the average price for a pound of 100% ground beef would have risen to only $2.52 per pound--if it had tracked the overall rate of inflation. However, the price of 100% ground beef has outpaced overall inflation in the past three and a half years--hitting July's record price of approximately $3.09.
The average price for a pound of 100% ground chuck hit a record $3.449 in July--up from $1.821 in January 1980.xls (when BLS started tracking it) and $2.961 in January 2009, when Obama took office. Between January 1980 and January 2009, the price of ground chuck grew at a slower pace than overall inflation. Had it kept pace with overall inflation during that period it would have been $4.74 in January 2009 instead of just $2.961.
Since January 2009, the price of ground chuck has outpaced overall inflation. Had it tracked overall inflation, it would be $3.16 per pound now instead of approximately $3.45.
The BLS started tracking the price of lean and extra lean ground beef in 1991. Between then and January 2009, its price rose at the same rate as overall inflation, climbing from $2.184 per pound to $3.426. But since January 2009, the average price for a pound of lean or extra lean ground beef has outpaced overall inflation--rising from$3.426 to $4.118.
Had the price of lean and extra lean ground beef simple tracked overall inflation since January 2009, it would now be approximately $3.66 per pound.
The BLS started tracking the average price of all uncooked ground beef in January 1998. Between then and January 2009, this price grew faster than overall inflation, climbing from $1.846 to $3.157. Had the price of all uncooked ground beef risen at the same pace as inflation during that period, it would have been only $2.43 in January 2009.
Since January 2009, the growth in the average price of all uncooked ground beef has continued to outpace inflation. Had it grown at the pace of inflation it would have been $3.37 in July--instead of the $3.747 that BLS reported on Wednesday.
Thank the liberal, progressive government and the out of control EPA for forcing our grain crops into your gas tanks in the form of ethanol. They are in the process of forcing a big increase in the percentage of ethanol in gasoline which will drive up food prices even more.
The sad part of this is that with all the oil, coal and natural gas resources we have in abundance there is no need whatsoever to destroy our food crops and make ethanol out of it to run our vehicles. Also, the food crops being destroyed for this insane purpose not only hurt us with super high food costs but hurt people in other Countries around the world who have a shortage of food and would gladly buy our surplus.
We must get rid of our liberal, progressive government and the EPA as soon as possible. They are killing us.
And that, my FRiends, is a direct tax on the middle class (the poor are insulated via foodstamps)
I have to ask.... these are shelf prices....
What did the farmer get per lb? Who did the best? The farmer/processor/retailer?
Please....me and a co-worker (a lib mind you) have been laughing at the “sale price” of bone-in short ribs.
The sale price used to be the regular price. Now they’re trying to pass it off as a “sale”.
We laughed about having so much of them before “the sale” that we could make use without them.
I’m guessing everybody got “more”. They all HAD to, because their feed costs, fuel costs, transportation costs, sales costs, etc. are all up.
I-N-F-L-A-T-I-O-N, baby. And it ain’t going away with Obama and the rest of the liberal fascists throwing more gasoline onto the fire.
Hopey-Changey, Suckaz!
‘The price of meat has just gone up and your old lady has just gone down...’ Frank Zappa
My ducks, geese and chickens are looking very nervous.
We are a free people freely giving up our rights to a bunch of worthless, know-nothing, arrogant, know-it-all leftist pr*cks who have bamboozled us into thinking there is a good reason behind their high-handed edicts and demands.
Ground beef too expensive..let them eat Wagu.
Moochel.
With gas and hamburgers costing more, the voters ought to be in an exctremely foul mood when they head for the polls in November. Good. I’ll be happy to pay more for these essentials if it will help propel The First Dictator out of the presidency.
Then substitute. Ground turkey, mixed with finely chopped bacon and beef buillon cubes smashed to powder, you can’t tell the difference if you don’t know how that bacon cheeseburger got prepared.
Due to the drought and the increased cost of feed,
supposedly, cattle ranchers were selling off their herds,
leading to temporarily lower beef prices.
So, that’s not happening...
I suppose inflation might be the answer, since they can’t really “shrink” a pound of ground beef to keep the price the same.
With the highest corporate tax rate in the world and a feckless government that shoves corn into our gas tank, and a burgeoning welfare class of leaches, it will take a miracle to swing this ship back on course.
What am I saying? This ship is sinking and our biggest enemy lives in the White Hut and wasn’t even qualified to run for president in the first place!
See... I scratch my head... I have not been tracking cattle live prices for some time... but, I’ll bet on a buck - 20 and I know we saw a buck -10 years ago. So it strikes me the farmer is getting the lean end of the stick.
Sure input costs are up for finishing.
I would think that processing has had the higher costn increases due to energy. That is why we need to put coal back into the equation. I doubt any of the developing countries have capped the use of coal! Its that elasticity and substitution at play....complicated by corn politics.
Now add in the prospects of a drought into the pricing!
Thanks, I may need to try that someday, soon.
Take a pound of sawdust, grind up some worthless money and you’ve got yourself an obamwich.
The author is pretty dumb. He makes a big deal about the difference between the rate of change of beef and “the inflation rate”
The inflation rate to which he ties his thoughts leaves out the price of food. There is no relation between the two at all and his comparisons are totally meaningless. The real information is that the official rate lags reality and fails to tell the true story of economic events.
If only we had Obama’s intestinal fortitude. We could eat the family dog.
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