The Real Inflation Fear - US Food Prices Are Up 19% In 2014

Zero Hedge ^ | 3-26-2014 | Tyler Durden

[blam]

The Real Inflation Fear - US Food Prices Are Up 19% In 2014

Tyler Durden
03/26/2014 10:20 -0400

We are sure the weather is to blame but what happens when pent-up demand (from a frosty east coast emerging from its hibernation) bumps up against a drought-stricken west coast unable to plant to meet that demand? The spot price (not futures speculation-driven) of US Foodstuffs is the best performing asset in 2014 - up a staggering 19%...

(snip)

We're not allowed to post charts from Bloomberg so you'll have to click to the site to see the chart.

[pallis]

Let me see.... Do I pay for Obamacare this month, or pay my rent, buy groceries and put gas in my car?

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

Americans aren’t making what they made in the pre-Obama age, and we are paying more for everything. Our extravagant tyrant regards lowering lifestyles as a necessary part of our socialist future. It’s all a matter of fairness and leftist philosophy for him.

[PapaBear3625]

This time of year most apples are imported from south america. They had killing late frosts down there back in Sep/Oct at the beginning of their growing season. Supply is decreased accordingly.

Global cooling strikes at food production (and thus prices) worldwide.

The US middle class can survive a degree of food price inflation. We won't see bare shelves, because we are able to pay enough to get farmers in other countries to send stuff here instead of to their local markets.

What about people in the Third World who are barely holding on, have no "safety net", and for whom food makes up a large percent of their expenditures?

Expect "civil unrest" to break out globally this year. Also expect floods of "refugees" show up in the US and Europe, and bring our "safety nets" to the breaking point.

[Black Agnes]

The guy behind the website ‘iceagenow.com’ maintains we’ll be fighting in the streets for food long before any significant changes are seen in ‘ice sheets’.

Bastardi is predicting a ‘year without a summer’ type temps for those in the Great Lakes area and northern New England.

I love Bastardi to death. He’s highly entertaining! I hope he’s dead wrong on this one.

[9422WMR]

Not only are food prices UP, but quantity per package is DOWN.
Funny how that works...../S

[virgil]

Even when they were in season last fall, I saw them at $1.70/lbs at the store.

[thejokker]

0bama and the Democrats are trying desperately to re-inflate a deflating economy through massive borrowing and spending. If we would start spending within our means prices would fall across the board to a healthy level. Unfortunately the longer the spending goes on the less likely the inevitable deflation will occur at a manageable rate.

0bamaian economics = train wreck

[blam]

"Bastardi is predicting a ‘year without a summer’ type temps for those in the Great Lakes area and northern New England."

This year?

[Black Agnes]

Yes.

He’s said that growing season in Eastern Canada might be truncated to non existent and the climate around the GL’s might be VERY cool compared to normal.

http://www.midmichiganweather.com/2014summerwarning.html

[moose07]

Good for you!
Don’t forget the charge regulators for the batteries, and proper sinewave inverters for the supply - cheap ones give out a square wave and are not liked by a lot of domestic appliances.
You will need to charge your batteries from the mains once a month for maintenance.
Enjoy the freedom. :)

[Toddsterpatriot]

Love his fake stats.

In fact, according to James Hamilton of Econbrowser, John Williams admitted in 2008 that his numbers are just inflated CPI data:

Last month I called attention to an analysis by BLS researchers John Greenlees and Robert McClelland of some of the claims by John Williams of Shadowstats about the consequences for reported inflation of assorted technical decisions made by the BLS. Williams asked me to update with a link to his response to the BLS study. I am happy to do so, along with offering some further observations of my own.

You can follow the link to Shadowstats’ response to Greenlees and McClelland and judge for yourself, but my impression is that the response is more philosophical than quantitative. In a separate phone conversation, Williams further clarified the Shadowstats methodology. Here’s what John said to me: “I’m not going back and recalculating the CPI. All I’m doing is going back to the government’s estimates of what the effect would be and using that as an ad factor to the reported statistics.”

The Trouble With Shadowstats

LOL!

[DannyTN]

Thanks for that.

I get the impression that shadowstats unemployment numbers have a much better methdology than their inflation numbers. In any event, with unemployment we know labor participation is way down among the working age.
We know food stamps is at an all time high.

So regardless of how you slice and dice that unemployment number, the official numbers stink.

I’m highly skeptical of the official inflation numbers with or without shadowstats.

Food prices seem to be higher. I know sugar seems to have dropped, but meat, pork and shrimp are all higher. Not sure on veggies. Energy prices are higher. Maybe not year to year, but over the last 10 years they seem to have doubled.
Housing may have dropped, but for most people they are locked in, so that’s a small comfort. And Medical...well, that’s just FUBAR.

We know government has an incentive to understate inflation so they don’t have to pay as much in SSA payments, because that’s linked to the index.

[DannyTN]

The MIT study seems to have inflation about 1% to 1.5% higher than the official stats. MIT inflation index

[Toddsterpatriot]

Thanks for the link. Looks like approx 3.5% difference over the last 6 years. Less than 0.6% annually.

Not quite the 8% annual fiction Williams is pulling out of his butt.

[PA Engineer]

My friend just got a ton of cells for $.61 a watt. I’m thinking of pulling the trigger on a few thousand watts if I only end up storing them as I save up for the inverter and batteries.

The batteries, cables, hardware, cabinets, regulators and mounts have increased in price. The batteries have doubled since I installed our backup system 15 years ago.

This is the way to go to get outside the matrix. I finally convinced my Wife to go with chickens. Her condition is that it must match the house. That goes for style and materials. I hate cutting fiber cement.

[kiryandil]

I hate cutting fiber cement.

Fiber cement siding? How do you cut it?

[PA Engineer]

Just a standard table saw with blades made for fiber cement. There are fewer teeth to keep the small particles down. Still need to use a respirator.

[kiryandil]

We've been using a 4 1/2 angle grinder with tile cutting blades to cut Durock cement board, tile and various other things like that.

Wonder how that would work on fiber cement? My buddy used to use a Skilsaw on Durock, till I showed him the angle grinder trick. You still need to use a good dust mask/respirator, but it's a lot quicker.

I suit up pretty good - ear protection, eye protection & a 3M N95.

[dalereed]

It won’t help our Social Security checks, food isn’t included in the cost of living.

[PA Engineer]

Thanks. I have a grinder and will look into it. I did the barn last year and the cuts were fast, but ended up consuming a number of blades. They just don't last. That could save a number of trips back and forth (steep hillside) where the coup is going.

I complain about the work, but IMHO the fiber cement board is the best out there for siding. Too many positives to list and will have to wait and see how the factory paint holds up.

[PA Engineer]

Just for a laugh. Three days after we finished I had a tree come down. It was exactly one inch from the corner of the barn.



I hired professionals to take it down. Didn't want to touch it. Hickory too. The guys asked for the date I finished so they could play the numbers.