Grocery prices reflect the tip of the hyperinflation iceberg that is rushing at us

[whistle]

....Remember those pictures of Germans going to the store with wheelbarrows full of money just to buy a single loaf of bread in October 1923?

Well, here in the United States, a pound loaf of whole wheat bread cost 24% more than a year ago in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). General Mills is shrinking the size of its cereal boxes, but holding prices the same; mega-baker Sara Lee upped its prices across the board by 5% in September.

Unless Congress takes action now builds financial firewalls, this is only the beginning: the price of wheat just hit a new record of $9.38 this past week, more than double what it cost last year, while oil hit a record high (over $81 a barrel) on London markets yesterday, and, at over $83 a barrel, is heading back to last week's record of $84 on New York markets.

A gallon of whole milk cost 26% more last month in August than August the year before, according to the BLS. Illinois corn and soy prices are 40% and 75% higher than last year, respectively, and Kansas wheat is up 70% or more, as reported in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. Wholesale prices for chickens in the U.S.' number one poultry producing state, Georgia, have hit a new record, 15% more than a year ago.

What is behind this? U.S. citizens and Congress have seen and heard the warnings that "you can't have your bank and your hedge fund, too". But that is exactly what the Federal Reserve under Chairman Ben Bernanke has chosen to ignore by his deliberate actions of printing hundreds of billions of dollars into Central Banks and monetizing worthless paper. The effect of using that technique is to create hyperinflation in the market. This hyperinflation becomes hungrier and hungrier for more rent and higher prices from everything.

Those inflationary effects are now accelerating the breakdown of the housing sector. Predictions now are that with about 30 days more of this type of inflationary spiral of prices, a blow-out of the U.S. economy will occur going in the direction of what happened in Germany in the Fall of 1923.

To put the brakes on this and prevent a complete economic meltdown Congress must act now and pass the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act that has been introduced by a number of Congressmen and sponsors.

[mrcheerful]

1. Never mind food costs, just look at how great the Dow is doing

seems to be the answer I'm hearing from the MSM.

[Warpy]

4. Yeah, it's FLAT! Happy days are here again!

When you adjust for real inflation (not the DC fantasy figure), it's dropped considerably. When you factor in the decrease in wealth caused by the fall of the dollar, it's plummeted.

But hey, if we can get the MSM chirping about how great the Dow is, maybe the rubes won't notice they don't have enough to live on!

[mrcheerful]

7. Thats the game plan. As long as the Bill Gates and CEO's are making money hand over

fist, america is doing wonderful. As someone who has been living for over 20 years opting out of buying medicine for food I know how and what the working person is finding out, america sucks at caring for its citizens. Every cost from Food to gas is up 25% or more, yet what has the goverenment given the disabled and elderly to help with raising costs? $20 stinking dollars a month never mind the fact that food costs and living expenses have risen by hundreds of dollars since *co took over.

[SoCalDem]

6. Yep.. the giggling money-honey ladies tell me the market is "happy".. n/t

[TahitiNut]

10. That gal on CNN is like a groupie for a drug-addicted garage band.

Susan Lesovic? She's just completely appalling. She makes my skin crawl - The Borg.

[formercia]

11. It might hit 14,000

about the same time a loaf of bread costs $250. What a deal. :sarcasm:

[PDenton]

13. everything is ridiculously priced

especially given that wages haven't moved upward much, if at all, for most people.

Even stuff like shave cream. I remember four years ago a can of low-end shave cream cost 90 cents at the drugstore. Now it's more like 2 bucks... for the same brand. Some of this is due to an increase in the costt of living in the area (metro Orlando), but its also inflation.

[whistle]

29. Right, I had Wall Street Stock Pot Roast for dinner, it was pulpy and mushy

...and the green gravy kind of put me off.

I have also found that $50.00 fill ups at the gas pumps are becoming unavoidable as crude oil prices move toward the $100.00 per barrel price

[OzarkDem]

2. and Congress keeps borrowing money

to send to Iraq, where it will disappear and the value of our dollar will continue to decline

Meanwhile, more jobs get shipped overseas and the balance of trade gets more out of whack.

It appears we now have the DLC, Paul Begala and Carville running the Dem Party. What a pity none of them know squat about economics.

When our economy implodes, Dems will get blamed as much as the GOP. Sheer idiocy.

[whistle]

32. We are seeing "guns or butter" economics once more

[rasputin1952]

3. This is just the beginning....

rampant short term profits have helped to run the economy aground. The BS #'s of the Stock Market will be used to cover the damage done...but we will be eating a lot less in the near future, and I think the price of a gallon of gas will top $4 by the end of the year. Then things will really get tough...transportation costs will kill off the last vestige of price control.

[whistle]

33. The the $100 per barrel crude price which we will see sooner rather than later

...then the talk will be about $200 per barrel crude oil!

[rasputin1952]

40. By then, we should be talking seriously about alternative fuels,

something we should have approached 20 years ago.

If bush and his cronies were serious about stopping terrorism coming from the ME, we would not be as quick to by petroleum. Whiel certainly not all Middle Easterners condone terrorism of jihad, with every quart of oil and tank of gasoline, people all over the world pay for the next grenade and crate of munitions, even for the notorious "dirty bombs".

In the immortal words of Pogo, "We have met the emeny, and he is us"...:(

[opihimoimoi]

5. Leadership needs not to LOOK GOOD but to actually know How to analyze and Solve

Our Leaders may know how to get elected but can they solve?

The more one knows...in a variety of differing fields...the better to solve with good odds.

Bush seems to be good time Charley from any Bar....but he don't know squat...neither do many of our Congress...both Parties.

But at least the Dems know how to solve better by asking for pertinent Information...Them Pubs appear to be guessing....

[whistle]

34. Yep, that video from the Tuesday night debate when Gravel told Hillary

...how to stop the war funding and get our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and avoid further conflicts as invading Iran, Hillary just laughed out loud. That is not the way to solve problems, that is just more in our face arrogance and I'm not interested in any candidate that has that attitude!

[opihimoimoi]

39. Maybe so, but as of now, she is looking pretty darn good..Far better than any Pub, dats for sure

[Bitwit1234]

8. I buy groceries from Walmart

And before you start to scream, it's the only store selling groceries except those small general stores in about 30 miles one way and 30 miles the next. AND we are not traveling 60 miles round trip to buy groceries.

What I am getting at is I buy CoffeeMate by the 1/2 gallon containers. Last year it was 2.48 it creeped up to 2.68 and now it is 2.98. In one year it has gone from 2.48 to 2.98. 50 cents. I have cut down on coffee but I have to have coffeemate or I can't drink it, but that's just one item. I tell my son when we go grocery shopping "this has gone up" that has gone up. I notice the price because I buy it. Just think how much the groceries cost at these general stores...

[snot]

9. Matches my perception, but

any source or authority?

I know the gov't inflation numbers have been seriously "adjusted" in a variety of ways for many years now, but is ANYONE still keeping track of inflation the old-fashioned way (i.e., taking into account basic food, energy, housing, medical costs and other necessities, rather than basing it on how much tv screen you can buy per dollar)?

[catmandu57]

12. I've been noticing this for a while now

It takes more money for less than what we usually buy. Even with careful buying, using coupons it keeps rising the curve is getting sharper too, I think this christmas shopping season is going to clear away any smoke masking inflation, even the blindest, densest, uncaring people will see that something is wrong. By then it will be too late for anything but to keep on down the chute to the slaughter house.

[notadmblnd]

15. We were just discussing christmas this morning.

We want to call a family meeting and talk about having nothing more than a family dinner. All the kids are almost grown now; youngest of the 5 grandkids is 15, the oldest is 32. The two great grand kids are 5 months and 2 yrs. There's no longer any need to have a big gift giving blowout. I much rather see family members take the money they were going to use to buy me something I'm probably not going to appreciate anyway, and pay an extra bill. With the exception of providing for the babies, I'm hoping everyone agrees to this proposal. It will make all of our lives much less stressful this coming holiday season.

[knitter4democracy]

41. We're cutting back on Christmas this year.

I'm going to have the kids also give food to the Food Bank and buy a couple of things for the families our church is helping out.

We're thinking three presents and a stocking of school supplies for each kid. Maybe one present each of us, and gift cards for family. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year, and I'm already starting to stock up when stuff's on sale.

Food prices are way up this year and only going to get worse.

[renie408]

17. This is what I have noticed, too. We have had to go on a strict budget

because my husband is out of work. I set the grocery budget based on personal experience developed over years of buying groceries for my family. I budgeted X for groceries, only to find that X only buys about 80% of what I thought it would. And it isn't just wishful thinking on my part. Milk is $4.19 a gallon now. That is like .75 cents higher than just last year. Thankfully we have the chickens, so eggs aren't an issue, but chicken feed is.

Threads like this just scare the hell out of me. We have used up the cushion we had built up and now we are so broke all the time. I can't afford to stock up, scared that things are going to go to shit...

[Fredda Weinberg]

22. Soon it might be safest to grind your own feed

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/1/1-4/Harvey_Ussery.html

[renie408]

24. I just read over that article

and I am going to guess that it would cost more to grind my own feed following those directions than what I am spending in premixed feed. The quality might be better in what this guy is mixing, but it sounds pretty expensive.

[whistle]

35. Since the beginning of Bush's surge in Iraq which corresponds to the

...surge in billions of phony dollars being printed, the whole stimulus to hyperinflation!

[gollygee]

14. Prices are going up and boxes are getting smaller

I needed cilantro and looked at the price and thought it was expensive for cilantro - it was under a dollar a bunch but cilantro is usually really cheap. Then I picked up a bunch and it was a third the size that it used to be.

Not a big example because it isn't an expensive item, but it really is happening to absolutely every food item.

[WinkyDink]

16. Heh. Depends where you live. In my area, cilantro is $$$$.

[renie408]

18. Have you checked out the size of a bunch of broccoli?

They had broccoli 'on sale' last week. We love broccoli, so I went to pick up a bunch or two. And the bunches were about half the size they normally are.

One thing I have started doing is going shopping around 8 am. That's when I get really good deals on meats and produce. I am also shopping at Aldi's twice a month now.

[gollygee]

21. Yes! I noticed that too

there used to be three stalks in the bunches here and now there are two. So not half the size but still certainly smaller.

[notadmblnd]

19. Produce in the store is unreal and it looks like it came from some other stores dumpster

We took a short day trip a couple of weeks ago to the produce market in Pinnconning and bought for the winter. Potatoes were 4.99 for 50# and sweet onions 15.00 for 50#. Squash (which is very nutritious, all varieties .25#. We also stopped at the cheese factory and a meat market. I spent about 200.00 and brought a car full of food home. I even had to plug in the freezer that had been sitting empty for about a year now. We grow our own cilantro. No need to buy it, it grows like a freaking weed and if you let some go to seed it comes back by itself the next year. We planted a lot of our own veggies this year, tomatoes carrots, beets, beans and corn just to see if we could do it. It was a very small garden along the side of the driveway about 36in wide by about 70ft long. I was amazed by how much we produced. I still have two water melons growing on the vine that came up voluntarily and they're bigger than the ones I saw in the stores this past summer.

I'm thinking about taking orders from family and friends and charging an extra 5 for gas and making another trip before winter. Pinnconning is near Saginaw and the directions there are easy (take I75 and get off at the exit before the bridge but I can't remember the highway number) and take the scenic route along the Saginaw river and through Bay City. I see you're from Michigan, maybe it would be a good trip for you? My mom wants to take a trip to the apple orchard; we used to mass produce pies for the family in the fall and stick them in the freezer. But the apple orchard thing has become so trendy and commercial that I don't realize the savings by doing it this way any longer. I have apple and cherry trees that are producing good fruit now. I need to begin tending them properly and processing my own. I know it's a lot of work, but I have a feeling we're going to have to pull together like this as family to get by in the future.

[knitter4democracy]

42. We have good places in Kalamazoo area, too.

Our orchards around here have good prices, and the muck farms have cheaper potatoes and onions. I know a farm by Mom's house that I'm going to make a stop at to stock up on red potatoes.

Head for orchards further away from Detroit--cheaper apples and often better in quality. I know of one not far off of 94 in the Albion area (west of Jackson).

[L. Coyote]

20. This is the impact of ethanol plants sprouting everywhere. GET REAL.

Fear-mongering should be left to the paranoid right.
Fear fear, don't create it! This is not 1923 Germany. What utter crap!

American farmers have never been happier, with record prices saving many farms.
Wheat is a major export crop, so this is also good for balance of payments.

Ethanol production means world food prices will rise 25%. Get used to this fact.

[sendero]

25. You know...

... the wheelbarrow of cash thing is over the top for sure. And even pronouncing the onset of "hyperinflation".

But the FACT is, inflation is very real, it is very much here and the government numbers lie.

I buy half of the groceries for my family and I'll tell you flat out, prices are up around 40% for a most things compared to 2 years ago, and down on almost nothing.

Inflation on almost everything we consume is coming, because we import so much stuff and the dollar is dropping like a stone. Which it will continue to do so long as the Fed keeps printing money to bail out bad actors.

It might not be "hyperinflation", but 10% or more isn't remotely unlikely nor is it anything to be thumbing your nose at.

[renie408]

26. Especially if you are like us and don't even have any of the useless money to begin with. n/t

[whistle]

36. The real inflation rate, what average folks see and experience day to day now

...is well over 10% and running closer to 20% even though the official CPI is still being reported as.....4.8%????? Not for 85% of Americans it isn't!

[bullwinkle428]

28. NPR reported on this just the other day - the explosive demand

for biofuel is driving crop prices upward in a big hurry. Soybeans have nearly doubled in price over the last year, IIRC.

[whistle]

37. Is that the diesel fuel substitute to be used in farm tractors?

[davekriss]

43. That is only true in (minor) part

First, modern agriculture relies heavily on oil-based fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. It relies on oil-based transportation to get product from grower to consumer. Even the equipment on the farm consumes mass quantities of oil. At bottom, the green revolution -- which saved us from Malthusian crises predicted in the sixties and seventies -- was about the extraction of food from petroleum. I don't have a cite on hand (nor am I exactly sure on the numbers), but today we spend about 3 BTU in oil energy to produce 1 BTU in energy consumable by human beings. So agriculture is highly sensitive to the availability of cheap oil.

Second, demand for food is pretty inelastic. When prices rise, yes we substitute, buy somewhat less -- but ultimately we have to eat so food is purchased. So when prices rise across the board, as is the case today, food takes a bigger chunk out of our available income.

Third, the policies of George Bush and the Republican administration have but the final nails into the coffin of the dollar. Long an overextended currency protected by its reserve and petrocurrency status, its protections are fast eroding. I believe the dollar has lost 40% of its value against the Euro since Bush took office. This erosion is due to policies that sustain overconsumption (reflected in balance of trade deficits) and overspending (reflected in the record deficits of the Bush administration -- I believe Bush has borrowed more money than all previous presidents combined).

Fourth, the price of oil has risen to record levels, partly due to supply-and-demand issues at the plateau of Hubbert's Peak, but more due to the devaluation of the dollar. For Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, et al. to get the same value for their barrels of oil, and given that they sell most of their oil for U.S. dollars, they've got to get more dollars per barrel. Given the strong demand, they've been able to do this, thus oil is over $80 per barrel today.

Finally, this Bush-mismanufactured price for oil is working its way through the U.S. economy and we've seen, yes, the first signs of hyperinflation in the form of food prices. I too don't envision wheelbarrows of dollars for a loaf of bread, but I do expect inflation to equal or exceed what we saw in the seventies, along with (at the same time) a staggeringly deep recession. All thanks to the wonderful policies of George W. Bush and the Republicans that ruled the roost for far too long.

I for one don't envy the Democratic administrations who'll face the job of cleaning up this Bush mess, but cleanup we will. It might take a generation or two to restore the prosperity stolen from us by the right.

[Selatius]

23. If you want to fight inflation, you RAISE interest rates. The Fed DROPPED interest rates recently.

They will make make food price inflation worse.

[whistle]

31. Bernanke DOES NOT want to fight inflation, they want to hyperinflate

....to bail out hedge funds and screw everyone else....don't you see!

[earth mom]

27. BUT-BUT-BUT-Congress-ESPECIALLY the dems-are doing a GREAT job for the people of this country!

Ain't that the Loyalty Oath we've all to have taken? :sarcasm:

[whistle]

30. Yep, sign on and shut the F - - K up, that needs to be the DLC campaign slogan

:grr: :spank:

[MilesColtrane]

38. My suggestion:

Yank out the silver fillings in your teeth with pliers and bury them in the backyard in an old gym sock.

That way, when we're all wearing barrels you can sit back and laugh heartily.