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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Food Price Inflation Changes How We Shop
  • Date: Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:16:25 -0700


Pete, I don't forecast starvation anytime soon, but it's reported one out of
six in this country now struggles to get enough to eat. That's fifty million
people. On inflation, things get complicated. I follow tons of reports on the
economy, and with growing debt that can't all be financed by foreign central
banks - not enough surplus investment capital on earth (brother, can you
spare two trillion?) - the only alternative to default seems to be inflate
our way out of debt - print money to repay China, Japan, Euro banks, and so
on. With the inevitable result of de facto dollar devaluation - price
inflation. And none of our creditors will be happy to see the dollars we
repay with worth less and less. But the bottom line that concerns us is the
cost of living which keeps rising even as wages stagnate and jobs vanish. And
official inflation numbers are simply phony baloney.

So what's it got to do with living on the land? It means we learn to live on
the land again. As prices of everything start up again with a vengeance,
everything we don't have to buy leaves us more to spend on things we do have
to pay for. Most of us can't cut many corners on shelter, clothing, and
transportation, but can grow more of our own food. Equally important is to
support other local producers to keep them going (that would be me ;-) . Both
shore up community food security besides saving money. I wouldn't count on
the Port of Los Angeles always supplying U.S. stores from Asia, or
California's central valley always selling us the cheap produce we eat.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 12/3/2009 at 1:13 AM Pete Vukovich wrote:

>Its an interesting story, I don't think what they call 'food price
>inflation', which in the old days might be called 'supply and demand' has
>begun to bloom. Based on what I read last year I expected as much as a 30%
>jump in prices this year , maybe topping 50 next year.
>
>The article suggests some sort of 'pull back' as occurred with oil
>speculation, my intuition says leads me to believe a more likely
>occurrence next year will be an acceleration of the inflation. After all
>we haven't full seen the impact of this years drought, increased feed and
>transportation costs and a myriad of other things which people seem to
>still believe are 'market driven'. I'm sure somebody will get a nobel
>prize for explaining how drought and soil erosion are simple market forces
>which can can be controlled by derivatives the news of which will one day
>adorn all the headlines without actually feeding anyone, but I still feel
>a little astonished that few people are connecting 'food price inflation'
>to the state of agriculture world wide.
>
>Not a comment on what you're saying paul, I agree. But the way its being
>portrayed is a little surreal, sort of makes me wonder what will lead when
>people start starving. Maybe this : 'Surprised by lack of affordable food
>in stores families take matters in to their own hands and choose not to
>eat, congress to take up food boycott in closed session after long
>vacation, greenspan surprised that food needed for life'. Sorry maybe its
>just a wierd day.
>
>
>--- On Wed, 12/2/09, Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:
>
>From: Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>
>Subject: [Livingontheland] Food Price Inflation Changes How We Shop
>To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 10:45 AM
>
>
>Like I've been saying all along, growing for market and holding our
>growing costs down is going to be more practical and profitable as grocery
>prices keep going up
>
>paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>------------------------------------------
>
>Food Price Inflation Changes How We Shop
>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/31/food-price-inflation-chan_n_94283.html
>ALAN SCHER ZAGIER | 03/31/08 01:14 PM
>
>






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