Day: May 14, 2024

Food Prices Are Too Damn High

If you shop for groceries these days then you are already mumbling that mantra……prices started accelerating during the pandemic…..prices shot up and stayed up….

U.S. grocery prices jumped significantly after the federal government issued lockdown guidance in March 2020 in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

Shutdowns across the globe, instituted to curb the spread of the virus, caused disruptions in shipping food from producers to manufacturing facilities to warehouses and supermarkets and restaurants.

Prices first began to surge in April 2020, but the biggest increases came in 2022, as inflation started to erupted and the Federal Reserve tightened monetary policy. These, plus a confluence of other factors, led to the biggest food-price increases in decades.

Here are the four biggest causes for the food prices to shoot higher.

https://www.thestreet.com/economy/why-are-groceries-so-expensive

I am old so I can step back in history and remember when a pound of sugar was 19 cents, a loaf of bread was about 25 cents, a head of cabbage was less than a quarter and a pound of hamburger was less than a dollar….but those memories are worthless these days just something to bitch about, right?

Okay let’s look at the prices….say since the last election in 2020…..

If you feel like your trips to the grocery store have been putting a bigger dent in your wallet lately, you’re not imagining things. Food prices in the United States have risen significantly over the past few years due to high inflation.

During the last federal election on Nov. 3, 2020, food inflation was running at just 3.9% annually. Fast forward to March 2024, and the latest data shows food prices have risen a whopping 25.8% since then. To put that in perspective, a basket of groceries that cost $100 in November 2020 would now set you back $125.80. That’s an increase of nearly $26 for the exact same food items.

The biggest price hikes have been for specific grocery categories like eggs, dairy products, cereals and baked goods. But price rises have impacted all food groups across the board.

The inflation data shows egg prices were among the worst hit, with the average price soaring 54% from November 2020 to March 2024. So if a dozen eggs cost you $2 at the election, that same dozen eggs would now average around $3.08.

Dairy products like milk, cheese and butter also saw major price hikes over the past 3.5 years. Milk increased 36%, with a $3 gallon now costing $4.08 on average. Cheese and butter prices jumped around 30% over that period.

The price of cereals and bakery products, like bread, rolls, crackers and cookies, wasn’t far behind — rising around 28% since November 2020. So a $4 box of cereal back then would now cost you about $5.12 on average.

The cost of meat, poultry, fish and eggs collectively rose 23.5% since the last election. Beef prices were up around 20%, with chicken increasing over 25%. So $5 worth of ground beef in 2020 would now average $6.

For fresh fruits and vegetables, the price hike averaged around 21% over that 3.5 year period — a $3 pound of apples in November 2020 would now typically cost you $3.63.

hile overall food inflation started gradually pulling back after that August 2022 peak, prices have remained stubbornly high for most grocery categories compared to pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels.

So while the latest 2.2% annual food inflation rate for March 2024 seems more manageable, it doesn’t negate the cumulative 25.8% increase in grocery prices since that November 2020 election. And it remains to be seen if that downward trend in food inflation will continue in the coming months.

That is just since the last election, 2020, and now the grapevine has been setting the consumer up for higher meat prices with the accusation that swine and beef may be infected with bird flu.

This is a never ending thing…..food prices go up and seldom come down….maybe there should be some sort of speech from the president on the handling of food prices…

Just a thought!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine Update

Ukraine?

Is there still a war going on there?

Yes there most certainly is a continuing conflict going on in Ukraine. You have not heard much about it because most people are so wrapped up in the Israel-Gaza thing to care the old hat conflict in Ukraine.

Let me give an update….

The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that its forces have captured five villages as part of a renewed ground assault in northeastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials haven’t officially confirmed whether Russian had taken the villages, which lie in a contested “gray zone” on the border of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia. Ukrainian journalists reported that the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna, and Strilecha were taken. Russia said the village of Pletenivka also fell, the AP reports. The Institute for the Study of War, Washington-based think tank, described recent Russian gains as “tactically significant.”

The renewed assault has forced more than 1,700 civilians residing in settlements near the fighting to flee, according to Ukrainian authorities. It comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted were a concerted effort to shape conditions for an offensive. Russia’s recent push in Kharkiv also seeks to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line and pin down Ukrainian forces in the northeast, keeping them away from heavy battles in the Donetsk region where Moscow’s troops are gaining ground, analysts said.

Russian military bloggers said the assault could mark the start of a Russian attempt to carve out a “buffer zone” that President Vladimir Putin vowed to create to halt Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions. Fears also mount that Russia might be able to cut supply routes and besiege Kharkiv, a city of 1.1 million, per the AP. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Friday evening in a video on X that Russian forces were expanding their operations. He called on the country’s Western allies to ensure that promised deliveries of military aid swiftly reach the front lines. “A package that truly helps is the actual delivery of weapons to Ukraine, rather than just the announcement of a package,” he said.

As this conflict wears on we should ask the question with all the investment by the West….can Ukraine win this thing?

The long-awaited counteroffensive last year failed. Russia has recaptured Avdiivka, its biggest war gain in nine months. President Volodymyr Zelensky has been forced to quietly acknowledge the new military reality. The Biden Administration’s strategy is now to sustain Ukrainian defense until after the U.S. presidential elections, in the hope of wearing down Russian forces in a long war of attrition.

This strategy seems sensible enough, but contains one crucially important implication and one potentially disastrous flaw, which are not yet being seriously addressed in public debates in the West or Ukraine. The implication of Ukraine standing indefinitely on the defensive—even if it does so successfully—is that the territories currently occupied by Russia are lost. Russia will never agree at the negotiating table to surrender land that it has managed to hold on the battlefield.

https://time.com/6695261/ukraine-forever-war-danger/

That is just sad.

One year ago, all signs were encouraging. Ukrainian forces had been bloodied, but they held on to territory in the east in defiance of expectations. Successful counteroffensives allowed Ukraine to regain territory in the south. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy defiantly declared the coming year one of “our invincibility.” American aid to the country offered a king’s ransom in artillery and anti-tank weapons through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, and the flow seemed unceasing.

Inspired by Ukraine’s stunning success against the much larger and more advanced military, the West galvanized behind Zelensky and his troops. Tragically, all these indicators led to unrealistic expectations.

Ukraine can no longer win

No one wants the carnage to stop….the US has elections….Russia is obstinate….the rest of NATO waits for the US to act….the rest of the world has stopped caring….

It is a dilemma that the Ukrainians are paying for with their lives.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”