Posted on 05/11/2022 4:39:27 AM PDT by Kaslin
Going food shopping feels like getting punched in the gut. You pick up a whole roasting chicken, hoping it will feed four, and see the price: over $10 in many New York area stores -- a staggering $18 if the bird's organic. Apples are close to $3 a pound. And forget buying a steak; you might have to take out a mortgage.
The Biden administration's woke policies are to blame for food-flation, making your trip to the supermarket sheer agony. resident Joe Biden is prioritizing climate preservation over your ability to feed your family affordably.
His policies are driving up the costs of fertilizer, energy and farm-to-store transportation -- add to that overall inflation driven by excessive federal government spending. The result is sky-high food prices.
There's no relief in sight. You can expect record-breaking food-flation through the rest of 2022, according to Bank of America market analysts.
Americans have been whiplashed with a series of phony White House explanations for soaring prices. First Biden blamed profiteering oil producers, then colluding meat packers, then "Putin's price hike."
On Tuesday, Biden spoke to the nation on what he billed as his plan to remedy inflation. But in fact, he just repeated the same list of unsubstantiated excuses for why prices keep rising.
The president's media cheerleaders have been covering up the actual causes. Washington Post columnist Heather Long announced Sunday that Americans are entering a "new age of scarcity" when "a lot of everyday life remains out of control," as if food-flation is as inevitable as lunar eclipses. Wrong.
Biden's damaging policies can be reversed.
Start with fertilizers and pesticides, which are costing American farmers 50% more than just a year ago. Chemical fertilizers are made largely from natural gas.
Ending Biden administration restrictions on domestic natural gas production, including opening up exploration and production on federal lands and offshore, will help bring down fertilizer prices, according to Heritage Foundation agricultural experts Daren Bakst and Joshua Loucks.
Biden's war on fossil fuels pushed up the cost of fertilizer before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. True, Russia is a fertilizer producer, but the war in Ukraine is merely making a self-imposed problem worse.
Reducing fertilizer costs is critical to making fruits and vegetables affordable but also meat. Feed prices for livestock and poultry went up 12.7% last year, largely because of soaring fertilizer prices. If feeding beef cattle costs less, steaks will, too.
Energy inflation drives up food prices in another way. Shipping goods within the U.S. costs nearly 25% more than a year ago, according to St. Louis Federal Reserve data, thanks to the trucker shortage but also fuel prices.
You'd think Biden would be bending over backward to tackle the food price crisis. Instead, he's doubling down on climate extremism. Food shoppers be damned.
The federal Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to leave farmland idle. Agricultural groups asked Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for permission to cultivate idle land, but Vilsack said no, predicting a "detrimental impact on ... efforts to mitigate climate change."
Not all the factors pushing up food prices are within Biden's control. Avian flu is ravaging poultry and egg producers. Drought is curbing production in California. Putin's war is diminishing wheat production in Ukraine. But Biden has the power to tame food-flation by standing up to the climate extremists in his own party.
He should also curb overall inflation by calling for tight monetary policy (the Federal Reserve's job) and halting out-of-control federal spending, including shelving even a pared down Build Back Better.
Sadly, the president offered none of these remedies in Tuesday's speech.
What can average Americans do? Shop smart. Those precooked supermarket chickens are loss leaders -- a bargain designed to lure you into the store. They actually cost less than uncooked chicken, though they tend to be smaller.
You can vote smart, too. There's a direct relationship between who governs in Washington and what you're paying at the checkout.
Biden must be channeling Marie Antoinette, who dismissed public anguish over the price of bread by saying, "Let them eat cake."
Eggs went to $1.07 a dozan at Aldi to $2.46 a dozen at Walmart yesterday.
Milk went from $1.99 a gallon to I think $3.97 a gallon at Aldi.
I think 4% fat hamburger was $6.48 a pound at Walmart yesterday.
I’m not much of an eater, but I’ve noticed. Meat is getting very expensive. For other items I tend to shop at local farmer’s markets and they’re not too bad (yet).
Meanwhile gasoline has gone up around 30 cents or so in the past couple of weeks. Currently $4.70 for regular.
Looking forward to the elections.
“Those precooked supermarket chickens are loss leaders — a bargain designed to lure you into the store. They actually cost less than uncooked chicken, though they tend to be smaller.”
And they are yummy, but can be undercooked. Buyer beware.
The inflation is due mainly to the ill-advised sanctions on Russia. This has cut supplies of energy, fertilizer, food, and other materials that were flowing onto the world markets.
Increasing US production would not offset the volumes of Russian supplies being blocked.
The sanctions will cause trillions of dollars damage to the US and Western economies, while not having any significant effect on the Ukraine war.
Sending arms to Ukraine is good and effective. Economic sanctions on Russia are stupid and counterproductive.
This isn’t a bug, this is a feature. Democrats have always wanted to humble Americans and bring our standard of living down to meet the rest of the world. Equality, see? Then they won’t hate us and there won’t be any more wars ever again. (That’s what they think, I suspect.)
controlling food and water, you control the masses
I wish someone would do a story on how they calculate the inflation rate. 8.5%? Really? I am paying nearly $5 a gallon for gas, groceries are up at least 20%, etc. What moron caculates 8.5%?
Raw crab cakes at Whole Foods went from 7.99 to 13.99 in just one week. I know this isn’t a staple but they’re really good and the nice pink haired, Doc Martin boot wearing, tattooed freak behind the seafood counter is really nice!
What moron calculates 8.5%? ——— Biden and his Merry Band of Idiots.
Biden has been on the WRONG side of EVERY issue since he has been in public office. WHAT makes anyone believe he has changed and will now suddenly do something effective?
The only thing he can do effectively is CRAP HIS PANTS.——SPIT !-——
“The inflation is due mainly to the ill-advised sanctions on Russia.”
Um no, inflation has been going on well before Feb 24th...
“But, but, muh new 100 inch TV and expensive gaming computer are lots cheaper.”
Farmer’s markets might be cheaper than the supermarket soon, at least for produce and eggs. Assuming the farms are actually nearby. They don’t have the same transportation costs, and have fewer in-between stages (i.e.: sorting, processing, packaging, grading) to deal with.
I suspect we’ll soon be seeing an increase in things like on-site processing facilities and mobile abattoirs. Feed costs are climbing, but meat processors are at capacity. Here in Wisconsin most small meat processors have a 2 year waiting list, which means that if farmers want to cull their herd, choices are limited. The law does allow for a SMALL number of animals to be butchered and sold without a licensed facility, but I don’t recall the exact details of how and how many.
To be honest, I’m expecting “black-market meat” to become a thing.
I think I should get a hunting license for my meat needs this autumn...
I paid 4.19 for a doz x-large eggs yesterday!
Can of Costco brand coffee, 2months (and previous yrs.) ago ,9.99.
A month ago 12.99
A few days ago 14.99
Let’s say inflation ‘eases’.
Are the prices gonna come back down?
No
“The inflation is due mainly to the ill-advised sanctions on Russia.”
Yea, that trillion or so dollars the Fed just printed up had very little to do with it…
Yes that’s sarcasm.
L
This will prompt the Deems to push for an increase in Food Stamp benefits. Inflation won’t hurt the rich or the non-working poor. It just hurts the dumb suckers who work and make enough to get by without a government handout.
I’m hoping for a good fishing season in northern Minnesota as I intend to fish as often as I can when we are at our cabin. Fortunately our cabin is on a top walleye lake and I will be filling the freezer.
“The inflation is due mainly to the ill-advised sanctions on Russia. This has cut supplies of energy, fertilizer, food, and other materials that were flowing onto the world markets.”
This is what the media wants you to believe, it is the Feds devaluation of the dollar through printing fiat dollars.
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