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18 Comments
- shanajk, on 12/04/2008, -0/+12My grocery bill hasn't gone down much at all. It's still taking a big bite out of the budget of this family of six.
- DocarztDotCom, on 12/04/2008, -0/+8Food prices are a big problem at the moment, indeed. It seems we are headed for a big recession sometime in the near future.
- muppett, on 12/04/2008, -0/+7We were jut told we are in a recession. Well in the U.S. anyway.
- existentialduck, on 12/04/2008, -2/+8nice analysis
- moracity, on 12/05/2008, -0/+1Not all food prices have gone up. Food that is highly processed or transported long distances have gone up. If you stick to local, whole food where possible, you can offset the cost of other increases. For example, we have been buying local, organic milk for 6 months or so. It's actually cheaper than any of the big name organic milk. In some cases, it's actually cheaper than non-organic milk. We are also part of a local CSA and get a share of locally grown food once a week. It's far cheaper and better quality than produce at the neighborhood grocery. We get local meat as well. When you remove processing, packaging, advertising, and transportation costs, local food is a much better deal - and you are stimulating your local economy. Not everyone can take advantage of this, but I recommended looking into it.
- redman28, on 12/05/2008, -0/+1We are already there
- thattalldude, on 12/05/2008, -0/+1The larger problem that people don't see, is that while crop prices have fallen from last years sudden spike, the expenses that spiked with them have only continued to increase.
- inactive, on 12/05/2008, -0/+1CSA? That's kind of an unfortunate acronym... I'll always think "Confederate States of America"...
- dacrusher, on 12/05/2008, -1/+2Corn:
Last Year: $4.00 per bushel
June 2008: $7.46 per bushel
Today : $3.19 per bushel
Wheat:
Last Year: $9.03 per bushel
June 2008: $8.95 per bushel
Today : $4.64 per bushel
Soybeans
Last Year :$11.19 per bushel
June 2008: $16.58 per bushel
Today : $7.94 per bushel
Yeah, why won't those food prices go down? - CTRaiderThe1st, on 12/14/2008, -0/+1I know food prices went up when gas/diesel went up. I know gas/diesel prices are down and food at my local grocery store has not, period. (this is off the topic of agriculture subsidies)
- kd420, on 12/05/2008, -1/+2Don't worry guys, I'm sure demand for food will go down soon, then the prices will drop.
/s - ckennedy825, on 12/06/2008, -0/+0The revised article is now up at United Liberty under the new title: "How Agriculture Subsidies Distort Food Prices".
- ckennedy825, on 12/15/2008, -0/+0Even though crop commodity prices are deflating (as are oil prices), I predict that we will not see a decrease, in the long run, of retail food prices, for two reasons: 1. the agri-business lobby will not stand for the falling prices, and there will be immense pressure upon Congress to prop up prices and effectively bail out the agriculture sector of the economy; 2. The massive amounts of new money being created and already created in the last six months by the Federal Reserve (in the trillions of dollars) in its desperate attempts to prop everything up will eventually result in massive price inflation, destroying the dollar in the process. Therefore we can expect food prices to go up substantially in the next several years, along with everything else, the current deflationary trends notwithstanding. All of this is much bigger than the effect of agriculture subsidies as I've described in my article.
- ckennedy825, on 12/06/2008, -0/+0I have just submitted a revised article at unitedliberty.org reflecting the recent deflationary trends in commodity crop subsidies, trends which pretty well bolster my views on the distortions caused by agriculture subsidies. The sharpness of the deflation only goes to show just how distorted the prices were. As I said in my previous comment, it is seems likely that Congress will be under pressure to do everything to prevent this correction from taking place (or reverse it), and if that happens, we are not likely to see food prices decline in the long run.
- inactive, on 12/05/2008, -3/+2This article seems to provide no evidence that food prices haven't fallen. It just takes that as a given then goes off on a rant. As a guy above says, prices for corn and other foodstuffs are actually down. Wheat is at a 16-month low... where is this guy getting his information?
I'm not sure grocery store prices have fallen, but they really only went up in the first place for dinner-in-a-box/can/bag type stuff. If that's all you can cook, then yeah, prices might still be high for you. Actual ingredients are still pretty cheap. - ckennedy825, on 12/06/2008, -0/+0As the writer of the article in question, I should offer the following disclaimers: it was intended as a commentary to pose questions on the role that government intervention plays in distorting the market, leading to higher prices, the point being that more intervention makes it much more difficult for the market to make the proper corrections. Unfortunately I did not research the latest trends on crop commodity prices, which indeed have been deflating. Thus, while everything I said in the article is true (regarding the impact of subsidies on food prices), it really speaks to where we were several months to a year ago. It is fortunate that, in spite of all the government intervention we've seen and are seeing in the economy at this time, the laws of supply and demand still apply. In other words, the correction is occurring, and I myself stand corrected regarding the trends in crop commodity prices. Given the falling commodity prices (see http://www.larouchepac.com/news/2008/10/06/world-c ... we will surely see pressures on Congress to increase the amount of intervention in agriculture by imposing even more farm subsidies and price supports, none of which will help matters at all.
- redman28, on 12/05/2008, -2/+2I think much of it has to do with the fact that nobody trusts that gas prices are going to stay this low. If it lasts for another 6 months you might see other prices follow suit. We need some stability and there isnt' any at the moment.
- chicagojack, on 12/04/2008, -3/+1It is. Corn, soybeans, and wheat have all fallen a lot
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