Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Food Price Inflation Changes How We Shop

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • 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 11:05:05 -0700


Thank you for your volunteer work. You probably know we're seeing a lot more
people who ARE employed forced to fall back on food pantries and the like.
Like, we've heard a lot of China-Mart employees in California qualify for
assistance. It's ironic as things get tougher donations decline and in so
many places there's not enough to go around. I saw someplace they used to
give out Thanksgiving dinners and Xmas dinners, but now it's one or the
other. Some soup kitchens run out with families still waiting in line. We've
donated some of our produce to a local place and shared some with friends who
share with us too, but I'm sure it's not enough. With mostly fixed income we
shop thrift stores and almost everything but our food & computer is
secondhand. I wish we could afford to sell produce cheap close to home, but
we need high end markets to pay our own bills.

Take a look at this animated unemployment map Jan 2007-Oct 2009
http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html


paul tradingpost@lobo.net


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

On 12/3/2009 at 12:28 PM Smittyctz6 wrote:

>HI Paul,
> There is "food" if you want to call it that. Poor people can get that
>"food" I serve at a soup kitchen which pretty much is run by volunteers and
>our food comes from donations. We do the best we can with what we get.
>It is tummy filling and warming.
>
>On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 12:16 PM, Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> 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.
>> >
>> >






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page