No end in sight for rising feed prices
“Canadians and Americans typically spend 7-10 per cent of their disposable income on food; in Europe, it’s about 22 per cent; in a third world country like Thailand, it’s 50 per cent.”
Area churches squeezed by high heating costs
As heating oil costs soar, area churches are paying a steeper price to keep large, historic houses of worship warm, even draining their bingo revenue.
St. Anthony of Padua Church on Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford normally spends about $80,000 on heating oil in the winter season. So far, the parish has spent more than $100,000, said the Rev. Roger J. Landry, the pastor.
Rising gas, food costs changing lifestyles
Now, their weekly "splurge" — dinner at Old Country Buffet — is on the chopping block. And Holley finds the price of gasoline so high that rather than drive a mile for groceries, she waits until her daughter goes shopping and rides with her. If a disabled friend who lives with them didn't help out, "we'd be out the door," she said.
Two more items to add to your food cost post to give it that international flair - the rice price spike that just hit and the continuing expansion of the range of the ug99 wheat stem rust - fun stuff (not).
ReplyDeletethe American Farm Bureau Federation, an organization of farmers and ranchers, announced the results of its quarterly Marketbasket Survey, and the outlook for producers and consumers is not great.
ReplyDeleteEvery quarter since 1989, the federation as conducted an informal survey to determine the price of a basket of 16 basic food items an average American would purchase at a local grocery store. A 20-ounce loaf of white bread, a 32-ounce bottle of vegetable oil, a gallon of whole milk and one pound of pork chops are among the items surveyed.
Thursday’s report for the first quarter of 2008 saw an increase of $3.42, or 8.2%, to $45.03, from the previous quarter. The same standard bag of groceries was 8.9% more expensive than it was in the year-earlier quarter.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/03/30/food-price-commodity-markets-equity-cx_mlm_0328markets39.html?feed=rss_markets
Buy Pork bellies I tell you.
Kevin
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteBuy Pork bellies I tell you.
Spam
Pro: It keeps a LONG time.
Con: It is Spam.
energyecon,
ReplyDeletehttp://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/RI/M
Gold standard? Too bad we aren't on the rice standard. Unfortunately, our currency is on the faith standard. Here's "Faith No More" which might do it some justice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsETamxkT9E
You want it all but you can't have it.
Stag,
ReplyDeleteFood is the master link in the economic food chain. Food for thought is free. Unfortunately, food for eating is not. In fact, for many around the world, food seems down right unaffordable.
I thought we were out af asset classes to inflate. Once again, the fed has proved me wrong.
Anything BUT deflation. There has to be a better way.
Stag,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7RB1pBiE_ko&refer=worldwide
Just some run of the mill hoarding by the worlds second most popular nation. Move along. Nothing to see here.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"Just some run of the mill hoarding by the worlds second most popular nation."
ReplyDeleteComing to a country we all know and love soon, kind of like a movie sequel.
Run of the mill hoarding?
ReplyDeleteSounds like the cross between a bank run and a spaghetti (flour mill?) western.
Stagflation: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
(Truth be known there is very little good.)
Based on the excessive spam I've been getting in recent weeks (with questionable links to other sites), I'm unfortunately cranking up the filters in an attempt to block it. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteAbout 300 people rallied Sunday outside Cambodia's parliament to protest against double-digit inflation and to demand wage increases to deal with soaring food costs.
ReplyDeleteThe protesters, led by Cambodia's main opposition Sam Rainsy Party, carried banners reading: "We want pay raises. Government must stop inflation."
"The current government is unable to curb inflation ... We are pushing them to reduce the prices of essential items or to increase salaries in line with inflation," opposition leader Sam Rainsy told reporters.
Cambodia's inflation cracked into double digits late last year, hovering around 11 percent, driving up the cost of food and other staple goods.
Prices of meat and other essential items have risen by as much as 40 percent over the past year.
Rice -- Cambodia's staple food -- now costs nearly $1 per kg, deepening the poverty of the one-third of the country's 14 million people who live on less than 50 cents a day.
"The prices of commodities have increased so much -- especially oil, rice and meat -- that I can't afford to live," said 20-year-old Huor Ly Ly, a garment worker whose salary is under 60 dollars a month.
The Cambodian government earlier pushed out a series of measures meant to halt price hikes, banning rice exports and lifting a ban on imported pork. Prices of basic foods, however, have remained stubbornly high.
Aid agencies have warned that the growing food crisis could threaten tens of thousands of rural Cambodians with hunger in the coming year, as even food handouts have become significantly more expensive and harder to distribute.
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=6641596&subject=economic&action=article
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. The game continues.
Rice Trumps All in Game of Rock, Paper, Scissors: Chart of Day
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=auXOtzOGa4oM&refer=asia
Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath said April 4 that the government will take the ``strongest possible measures'' against hoarding of food, steel and cement to contain inflation, which jumped to a 13-month high. Among the possible moves would be the imposition of price controls, he said.
...because we all know how well price controls work to stop inflation long-term. *sarcastic eye roll*
OT: Here's LA Times take on rail slowdown:
ReplyDeleteThe nation's top hauler of container rail freight, BNSF Railway Co., is parking miles of rail cars in Montana and elsewhere because there isn't enough freight to keep them rolling.
DannyHSDad,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link.
"What is that but a symbol of how America is down in the dumps right now?" Cardinal asked as she gazed at the cars that haven't moved for about three months.
Right now? I think some people are starting to realize that the 1990s are over. Welcome to the 2000s.
Economists warn of deep recession
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/356060_recession22.html
WASHINGTON -- It's been almost an article of faith: Any recession this year will be mild and brief.
Faith based economics are so 1990s.