The Incredible, Ridiculous Cost of Food. And How They're Getting Away With It.

a reply to: c0gN1t1v3D1ss0nanC3

Finally, someone else on this website who actually grasps what's going on with inflation. I rarely give these out but have a star.

To be fair to the person you responded to though, they said a degree in finance not economics those are very different things.

My family owns a working cattle ranch. The price of beef on the hoof is down so low, they have dropped heard size to minimums.
So, where is the huge prices from beef? Ask the unions at the slaughter houses.
Beef on the hoof has bottomed out and the unions keep raising their wages.
THAT is where the prices are coming from...

a reply to: MRuss

$300 a week for a family of five and you think that is too much? Seriously? That's only like $43 per day, or a little over $8 per person per day, or less than $3 per meal. And you think that's too high?! You realize that a thing called "mark-up" exists along the chain, right? That it costs money to grow and produce and transport food, right? Come on, man. . .

originally posted by: MRuss
a reply to: tinker9917

But what I really wanted to get across tonight is that yes, the droughts and bad weather can certainly be a factor in rising prices. But you have to remember that food prices remained stable throughout much of modern history.

Weather aside, the real reason food prices are rising---the true and indisputable reason--is that BIG FOOD is buying up the intermediary companies----the middle men---and because of the lack of competition they can charge whatever they want.

I believe this is part of the big agenda of the NWO---to strike down the middle class---the heart and soul of America, and make conditions nearly impossible for most people to live.....

Why? So that we'll need them. So that we'll depend on big government for even the air that we breathe.

Our dependence on them is central to their plan.

And I have to say that as far as "big food" is concerned, they are the reason you can get a pizza for $5 these days, which is less than it cost when I was a kid in the 70s. I see this one as simple inflation and cost increase at every point in the chain. I really think that you are completely forgetting the costs of oil as it weighs into fertilizer and transportation here.

I'm glad more and more are waking up to this bull#.

My mom tells me all the time, if you are not a grocery shopper, you are living oblivious.

She said, many things skyrockets in price, within a very short amount of years. Like price of poultry, red meat, diary products, especially red meat products...

Anyhow, my wife and I are a family of two, we spend about $400 to $600 a month on groceries for 2 people. We live in SoCal.

Only way to shop smart these days, is to clip those coupons. Seriously, if you don't have a habit of clipping coupons and buying discounted items, oh boy...

Like, if you just want to walk into a grocery store and buy what you like, what you want to eat? LoL... prepare to break your bank soon.

a reply to: MRuss

Inflation is out of control and truth be told will cause some major problems in the near future. If you make under 15 dollars an hour you will not be able to afford food and rent in the next couple of years because of inflationary boundaries. The government will need to step in and fill this ever growing gap and eventually it will reach a point that they can not not bridge it anymore.



This is a never ending cycle of printing more more money........This causes inflation. Another great thread and write up OP.

a reply to: SubTruth

Out of control, you say? Srly? You got anything to back that up at all? Inflation seems to be damned well controlled right now.

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
a reply to: SubTruth

Out of control, you say? Srly? You got anything to back that up at all? Inflation seems to be damned well controlled right now.

Nah, it's just way more fun to keep saying the sky is falling. Of course let's face it, if the sky was really falling every time someone on ATS said it was going to fall, we'd have been dead a loooooooong time ago, lol.

originally posted by: sprtpilot
Food stamps. 50 million people do not care what groceries cost because they are not paying the bill. So, of course, the food industry wants to soak up all those dollars.
Food stamps are enormously inflationary just as Government backed loans fuel the outrageous tuition inflation.

Food stamps are only inflationary if you think that the people using them would just NOT EAT. Starving 50 million people is an option to keep your food bill down. But isn't there some supply and demand -- if nobody buys hot dogs, then the price goes up, right? If everyone wants a hot dog, the price goes up.

Now the Op just put out an article that said "consolidation is leading to higher prices." We've seen this before -- so why is that presumption a stretch?

50% of all grain stocks rot in the silos because of wealthier nations hoarding supplies -- this is due to artificial scarcity created by manipulations of markets by speculators in the Futures contracts. Scarcity, you see, makes this more expensive.

So if we already throw away half our food (grain at least, the primary ingredient of "fast" food) -- how is it that the people using Food Stamps going to inflate the price of Coca Cola and Cheetos? If they stop eating, I don't think you will get cheaper Cheetos. The consolidators are buying up the competition so they can charge as much as they like.

I'm sure there will be some lobbying money to make sure nobody brings up "monopoly" and consumer rights. So expect it to be like College Tuition and a lot of people obscuring the issue and making it seem like it's complicated. Meanwhile, Big Agro billionaires will have nicer yachts -- just like the Health Insurance CEOs -- could THAT be where the high costs are coming from? People making money hand over fist might have taken money hand over fist out of the system? Too farfetched, probably.

a reply to: jaffo

In 1970 you could get a slice of pizza for 35 cents in any major city... And that was good pizza, try to buy a DECENT pie for 5 bucks now-a-days. True, you can buy a pizza for 5 bucks, but they use the cheapest ingredients money can buy - mozzarella so greasy you could change your oil with it.

We all need to start growing our own food, its so easy, it's just finding a piece of land big enough to make it a viable option.

Seeds are really cheap and non gmo ones are easy to find.

If you kept animals you'd have fertilizer on demand and be self sufficient on food after a while.

Its something I hope to do myself one day, and if everyone did this supermarkets would disappear and revert back to trading markets on a barter system, hopefully.

a reply to: sprtpilot

Food stamps. 50 million people do not care what groceries cost because they are not paying the bill. So, of course, the food industry wants to soak up all those dollars.

that is an untrue statement. of that 50 million at least half work and stay poor, they care what food costs. op gives an indication of corporate interests controlling food prices and you turn around and say it's because of food stamps, ignorance at it's best. There are a myriad of factors that goes into food costs (drought in cali ain't helping) but those collecting SNAP benefits are at the bottom of the list.

Food stamps are enormously inflationary just as Government backed loans fuel the outrageous tuition inflation.

Wrong again, if anything, i'd say government subsidies control the prices of food locally more so than snap benefits.

Just found out my city has the worst food prices in the entire country. You could say I'm mildly peeved.

a reply to: MRuss

Food is ridiculously expensive because they (Big Ag, etc.) can price it at what ever they want to.

If the masses would purchase their food from smaller and independent stores, farmers, etc. and grow their own when the seasons permit, prices would drop. Real fast.

But, people cannot stay out of Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam's, Publix, Krogers, etc. I shop at a grocery store that is family owned. He only has two stores but his produce, meats, and the huge section of organic/non-GMO products is what keeps me shopping there. That and it's family owned!!

I had to go to the Devil Mart one day to get something I couldn't find anywhere else. I REALLY avoid that place, like the plague. I picked up a few groceries while I was there because I didn't have time to go to my regular store.

Anyways, I bought a head of lettuce, just regular old iceberg, and the sh!t was ROTTEN. Brown slime all over inside. Found it the morning after I purchased it.

NEVER again!

a reply to: Aazadan

On paper, I only have a BCS in Computer Networking and Security. In real life I have masters degrees in almost every subject.



Jokes...

In all seriousness though, I love to destroy college grads in their fields of study. A solid jack of all trades knowledge base in EVERY subject + high level logic and reasoning skills = the average person getting upset with you because they think you are belittling them in ordinary everyday conversations.

People don't like feeling dumb...which leads into my all time favorite cognitive bias, the Dunning-Kruger effect.

I love running over the typical alpha male/female suffering from D-K C-B Anosognosia. Nothing better than giving someone incapable of understanding their own ignorance at least a glimpse into their utter stupidity.

Turning ignorance is bliss into ignorance is depressing, one asshole at a time.

Just an fyi. Junk food and premade processed food is not cheaper to buy for your monthly groceries, than it is to by whole foods that you can transform yourself. You just have to be creative and have realistic standards. Yet people want there eggos,
Pop tarts, soda, cheez its and freezer microwave food because of laziness and ignorance. But yeah, food still is outrageous for its price.

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
a reply to: SubTruth

Out of control, you say? Srly? You got anything to back that up at all? Inflation seems to be damned well controlled right now.

YA I say......Anyone with a shred of common sense can see prices are rising fast. Since 2008 the US money supply has tripled what happens when the money comes out of the fold.......economics 101.



Why are they giving out 10 year car loans......HMM. Watch your grocery bill and see it for yourself. TPTB have to keep changing the way inflation is measured.........Are people really this blind.

originally posted by: jaffo

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
a reply to: SubTruth

Out of control, you say? Srly? You got anything to back that up at all? Inflation seems to be damned well controlled right now.

Nah, it's just way more fun to keep saying the sky is falling. Of course let's face it, if the sky was really falling every time someone on ATS said it was going to fall, we'd have been dead a loooooooong time ago, lol.

I am calling it for what it is.........Why are lower wage earners demanding a living wage....HMM.....Inflation.

Hi,
I did a 12 week "healthy lifestyle" course recently and some of the things the nutritionist showed us really opened my eyes, and I think I can now see what's going on, and it's the food manufacturers AND the supermarkets that are in cahoots together.

For the supermarkets in particular they have only 2 ways of increasing their profits, and that's by either getting more customers - which in reality means taking a bigger market share from the others, or by getting you to spend more.

It isn't that long ago that you went to the supermarket here in the UK and you bought food there, but now they sell everything, from car insurance, to clothes, to TVs, to practically anything you can think of.

Clearly this is to give shoppers the chance to spend more money, but I think the real insidious thing is with food, and here's how I think it works.

First you'll have heard about the obesity "epidemic" and I think this comes down to 2 things and is tied into all of this.

Food is packed full of sugar, and that includes supposedly healthy foods. This doesn't just make you put on weight, it also hits your brain and makes you crave more of the sugar packed food, leading to people eating more and eating larger portions.

What they also do is special offers - "buy one get one free". People end up buying more than they actually want or need because they think it's a good deal - the unit price is lower, but then you end up with food that you don't want to throw away because it goes out of date, so you eat more.

So you're buying more than you need, and because it's packed full of sugar you eat more of it, eating more in terms of frequency and portion size - just go to an antiques store and look at the size of plates and bowls and cups from 50+ years ago - ours today are HUGE by comparison.

So people get used to eating more, they put on weight and they buy more food and eat more, etc.

So the supermarkets and food producers make more money by selling more - and once that profit increase levels out the only way to increase profits is to put up prices, and that's what they do.

So I think shopping bills are so much more because prices have indeed gone up, but people buy and consume far more food than they used to.

There was a brilliant series on in the UK recently called "back in time for dinner" where a family basically were "taken back in time" to the 40's, 50's, 60's 70's, etc and could only eat the same diet that people from those eras ate.

The differences between even the 80's and now will really open your eyes, if you can watch it I highly recommend it - it's on youtube, episode 1 here:

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
a reply to: SubTruth

Out of control, you say? Srly? You got anything to back that up at all? Inflation seems to be damned well controlled right now.

Are you being facetious ?.....if no then you must be a politician,meaning you have no clue what it is like in the real world......

Pffft anything to back that up you say....well i do,it is called living it every day