food prices going up faster, higher then gasoline

[donsu]

http://www.startribune.com/745/story/1220329.html


Consumers feel the heat from rising food prices
Ethanol-driven demand for corn is just one of the causes.



-snip-

In the past year, food prices have increased 3.7 percent and are on track to jump by as much as 7 percent by year's end. The current increase is more than double the 1.8 percent jump seen the year before, according to the consumer price index.

Meanwhile, gas prices rose 2.9 percent. Only the cost of health care rose more, and then just slightly.

-snip-

While food prices are rising pretty much across the board, items related to corn are affected the most. That's because increasing demand for ethanol, made from corn, is driving up corn prices, which farmers use to feed their poultry and cattle. The high price of corn is also affecting prices of everything from cereal and other products with corn as an ingredient to the oils used to make potato chips.

-snip-

Prices are rising in each grocery aisle. In April, eggs cost 18.6 percent more than a year ago. Whole chicken prices increased 7 percent. Bread is up nearly 6 percent and beef steaks up 5.5 percent.

-snip-

Because food is a category that consumers can't cut from their budget, it's the cups of coffee, the entertainment dollars, and the clothes-and-jewelry budget that are scaled back first. In April, retail sales fell 0.2 percent, the first decline in seven months, according to the Commerce Department. Yet consumer confidence rebounded in May, mainly because of to consumers' cautiously optimistic view of business conditions. Still, a stew of high gas prices, food costs , a slumping housing market and adjusting mortgages could be a recipe for trouble for strapped Americans with little wiggle room in their budgets.
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everything is going up in price

since WWII the price of things has gone up and up

the men that make money off of war have seen to that

polish up your gardening skills and if you don't have any, get some.

[AllegroRondo]

1. but food and fuel arent counted for inflation statistics

why not?

[ComerPerro]

2. a lot of increased prices, I would imagine, are due to increased fuel prices

[ThomWV]

4. Natural Gas makes fertilizer and fertilizer drives everything in our food system

You do not get 150 bushels of corn from an acre by employing organic farming methods.

[ThomWV]

3. I'd Bet The Average American Family Could Cut Food Costs In Half And Actually Eat Better

Fast food junk is not cheap, but between it and packaging that is where much of our food dollar goes.

[Swamp Rat]

8. Red beans and rice makes a cheap, tasty meal.

Red beans and rice on Mondays is a tradition in New Orleans. ;)

Just add chopped onions, garlic, spices, especially a lot of cayenne pepper... and alligator or andouille sausage. :9

[AllegroRondo]

9. unfortunately thats not an option for many

many urban poor do not live anywhere near a decent grocery store, and dont have the money or ability to travel to the suburbs for grocery shopping. the best they can hope for is a convenience store. For example, there is only ONE grocery store in the downtown St Louis area, and its going to be leaving soon.

[Skidmore]

12. Basic foods are not cheap either.

I went shopping today and could not find a single loaf of bread for less that $2, and the loaves made with wholegrain or organic meals were the most expensive. Strawberries are in season...$5 a container. Apples are practically $1.50 a piece when you consider you are buying them by weight. Potatoes were a whopping $6 for a 3 lb. bag. Iceburg lettuce (not the fancy leaf kind) was $1.50 a head. I haven't seen a watermelon for less than $7 in a long time. Needless to say, we purchase melon only for summer holidays.

There's something very wrong with our "free market" and it can't go on forever.

[kestrel91316]

14. We need to get over our addiction not only to fast food, but also

grocery store convenience/highly processed foods.

Buy ingredients and prepare them yourself, America! Cooking isn't rocket science, contrary to what some of the professional whiners would have us believe.

[grasswire]

5. I've noticed huge increases in the last few weeks

A four pack of yogurt up 65 cents, for example. Butter doubled overnight.

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. All those plates on sticks this nation has been balancing for...

the past 50 years - fuel cost, food cost, indebtedness, dropping workers incomes, little manufacturing, world disdain, militarism - are wobbling badly and it will not take much for whole shebang to come crashing down.
When that happens the only thing we can count on happening will be complete fascism.

[lyonn]

7. Food prices up due to the high cost of trucking the product

across the country. The price of fuel has doubled, of course groceries are going to cost more.

Something has got to give or the stock market can't keep it's happy face with "new highs". The masses are spending all their dollars on just existing. Seems we experienced this during Reagan's golden years...

[taught_me_patience]

10. Neither food or fuel costs are factored into inflation stats.

Everything is fine and dandy in stagflation nation!

:sarcasm:


Bernanke's motto: Inflate or die.

[Elwood P Dowd]

11. The core inflation rate is a joke.

They don't count food or energy, and they have all these nice little substitution tricks they use. I imagine real inflation is running 6-8 percent.

[WindRavenX]

13. it's getting horrible

I live with my fiance and neither of us eat a lot. He needs a car to get to work, I don't.

We don't eat a lot of snacks or processed foods, but the price of even *basic* food is insane--meat is almost out of the question because it's so expensive. We've been eating a lot of eggs, tuna, rice and beans, anda pudding as a result.

And we're not poor at all--food is just costing us an arm and a leg.