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I don't care what any economic experts say. Food inflation is real and has been going on in the supermarkets and in most restaurants all during the latest recession.
Much of the inflation has been concealed as manufacturers have substituted cheaper ingriedients for more expensive ones yet kept the price and appearance of the product the same. This was a big factor recently in chocolate candy as cocoa butter was replaced with oil.
Another insidious move is deceitful package size reductions. Recently upon examining steady increases for regular items at supermarket it became apparent that many producers are now accelerating their use of package size reductions and at the same time instituting 10 to 20% outright price increases.
There is talk of deflationary pricing and that arguement has been used by many experts as justification for lower wages.
In an age of a fixation on illusionary quantitative data some empirical research would be refreshing.
OJ went from $2.50 for 1/2 gallon (64 oz) to $3.00 for 59 oz. This equates to over a 30% real price increase 5.1 cents per ounce versus 3.9 cents per ounce. The reported food price data does not capture all these changes or does it reflect the substitution of cheaper ingredients.
The 7 oz package of potato chips of 5 years ago just dropped from 4 oz to 3 3/4 oz. The 1/2 gallon of ice cream is now 1.5 qts. These are obvious examples. It is harder to compare meat, fish, poultry and produce but many former domestically-supplied products are now being supplied by more dubious sources such as China and third-world producers where quality control and questionable farming practices are utilized.
It's interesting, food prices went up quite a bit a couple years ago and we were told that was because of the high cost of transport, when gas was up at or over $4.00 per gallon. Yet when gas dropped back down near $1.50 food prices did not drop at all- they stayed at those high levels all this time, and continue to rise.
OJ went from $2.50 for 1/2 gallon (64 oz) to $3.00 for 59 oz. This equates to over a 30% real price increase 5.1 cents per ounce versus 3.9 cents per ounce. The reported food price data does not capture all these changes or does it reflect the substitution of cheaper ingredients.
The 7 oz package of potato chips of 5 years ago just dropped from 4 oz to 3 3/4 oz. The 1/2 gallon of ice cream is now 1.5 qts. These are obvious examples. It is harder to compare meat, fish, poultry and produce but many former domestically-supplied products are now being supplied by more dubious sources such as China and third-world producers where quality control and questionable farming practices are utilized.
I got a 1/2 gallon of OJ for 99cents this weekend and a nice box of shrimp scampi for $5 so I bought 6 and put them in the freezer.
At costco I got a DOZEN large chicken breasts (high quality) for about $18 among other really good deals.
Inflation is real. Used to be able to get a McDonalds cheeseburger for 10cents in the 1950's, I'm sorry so many of you are just newly arrived to this economic concept and feel the need to make it into some sinister conspiracy so that you can rationalize your biases.
If someone is illiterate and can't read the package and see the sizes went from 21oz to 18oz then I have little sympathy for them.
I now direct you to the outraged threads about US corporations making portion sizes too big and thereby making us all fat.
Dude, go to walmart...the casino...the food bank...what a great country where you can be dirt poor and still manage to be morbidly obese.
Don't like the costs or sizes? Clip coupons, buy on sale, buy bulk, shop at low cost outlets.
Oh yeah, and the people in this thread bitching about having fewer potato chips....really? I think you will survive.
The point being made is that the reported inflation data does not accurately reflect food inflation.
The retailers are trying to hold the prices and most definitely provided feedback to the producers to find ways to hold prices of the end product.
Walmart's food prices are low because they sell a lot of highly prossessed products filled with cheap ingriedients.
I don't care what any economic experts say. Food inflation is real and has been going on in the supermarkets and in most restaurants all during the latest recession.
Much of the inflation has been concealed as manufacturers have substituted cheaper ingriedients for more expensive ones yet kept the price and appearance of the product the same. This was a big factor recently in chocolate candy as cocoa butter was replaced with oil.
Another insidious move is deceitful package size reductions. Recently upon examining steady increases for regular items at supermarket it became apparent that many producers are now accelerating their use of package size reductions and at the same time instituting 10 to 20% outright price increases.
There is talk of deflationary pricing and that arguement has been used by many experts as justification for lower wages.
In an age of a fixation on illusionary quantitative data some empirical research would be refreshing.
Thus the parsimonious were crying foul not really following that the shift in demand exceeded the drop in currency. The current sub prime melt down has demonetized sub prime debt. So we do have a deflating currency irrespective of the supply and demand of other commodities. The "bailout" was not inflationary because it was nothing more than an accounting trick to keep banks from becoming zombies to comply with the accounting rules for solvency. It was not a circulating currency. In other words, the sub prime debacle is deflationary in every way. That does not mean the latent deflationary pressures of da guberment entitlements, aging population, energy supply and loss of dollar reserve status has changed.
The big problem is that the current solutions tend to help the financial sector rather than the productive economy. We should have tax cuts not lower interest rates. Da guberment debt combined with Fed purchases would replace the sub prime currency. Tax cuts would flow into the productive economy and ,relatively speaking, we have done damage to the goods and services economy.
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