Fast food has always had one thing going for it – cheapness. A lot of food for not much money. It is why fast food is popular, especially with people who haven’t got much money.
McDonald’s food, for instance, certainly isn’t good food.
Now it’s also expensive food – as anyone who has meandered through the drive-thru recently already knows.
A Big Mac – which is mostly bread, some stale lettuce, thousand island dressing and two meager “beef” patties – costs $4. Plus tax. A quarter-pounder costs about the same. Two dollars more buys you one large order of french fries. Add two medium sodas and this marginal meal for two costs almost $15.
Which isn’t cheap given the food – both quality and quantity.
A meal for four on the same basis and there goes $40 if everyone gets their own french fries. For McDonald’s.
If fast food is the food of the poor, the poor are in trouble – nutritionally and financially. Today’s $4 Big Mac sold for $2.39 in 2000, which even adjusted for inflation is “only” $3.41 in today’s money. Put another way, the clown has jacked up the real cost of the Big Mac by about 60 cents since 2000.
Vito the loan shark would be ashamed.
Especially in view of what someone who works at McDonald’s earns. Which is $7.25 per hour, per the feds. After eight hours of slinging burgers, a burger-slinger has earned enough to buy himself . . . a bag of burgers.
The President Selected wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 – which will only make Big Macs even more expensive, unless you believe in the kindness of the Clown. The same Clown that jacked up the price of a Big Mac by 60 cents over twenty years, above the cost-adjustment of inflation. The Clown will make you pay the difference – at the drive thru and on your 1040.
In other words, we’ll all pay and the burger slinger will wonder why his $15-per-hour hasn’t enabled him to buy more than a bag of burgers after a day slinging them. Don’t worry; we can just give him $30 per hour and all will be well.
The day is probably not far off when a Big Mac will cost $8. It already costs $5 in Germany and France, where measures such as the President Selected have long been in practice.
Over there, the poor can barely afford to eat cheap. Soon, they may not be able to afford to eat at all – and neither will the rest of us.
Because it’s not just cheap food that’s gotten pricey. A pound of ground beef is also pushing $5; the same thing cost about $1.50 back in 2000. But – this is interesting – when you plug that number into the government’s official inflation calculator, you only get $2.32.
Lucy has some ‘splainin to do.
Put another way, maybe the Clown isn’t as evil as the price he charges for a Big Mac indicates. Maybe it is the government that’s evil – not only causing but suppressing the true extent of the inflation that is easting us alive.
The government has both the capability and the incentive to perform this trick. The capability being its control over the calculating of inflation as well as its de facto control of the amen-corner press that repeats what the government tells it to. The incentive being to keep the minds of the marks off target. To prevent them from seeing – much less understanding how they’re being fleeced as well as how badly they are being fleeced.
Inflation is low! Just look at these numbers! (their numbers).
But the better gauge is to look in your wallet – probably empty – and your shopping cart, which likely isn’t even half full yet cost you every bill you had in your wallet. $100 buys a couple of plastic bag-fulls, easily carried by hand.
Back in 2000, $100 bought a trunkful of groceries sufficient to feed a family for a week.
Today, $100 would buy you 25 Big Macs – not plus fries and no sodas, either.
It’s not yet Venezuela. But it’s a long way from what America was – as recently as 20 years ago. Probably because about 100 years ago, America was bought by a cabal of private bankers – the “Fed” – and they have owned the money ever since. Which is the same as saying they own us.
Would you like to supersize that order?
Boy that didn’t take long. Feb 17 Brandonjin mentioned they would be coming for single family housing next and look at what i just found:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/02/20/berkeleys-effort-right-wrongs-past-may-end-single-family-housing-late-2022/
Remember what starts in commiefornia never stays in commiefornia either thru the feds using commiefornia to set policy or leftwing wack jobs fleeing the state and infesting their new locations with the same crazy ideas.
The attack on single family homes has been going on for many years now. Low level stuff mostly. That particular instance, lifting zoning restrictions doesn’t seem that horrific. Part of California’s housing problem is zoning. Government stops people from tearing down some old structure that doesn’t meet current needs and replacing it with one that does. And I am not referring to historic structures but just plain old bland buildings nobody will miss. I think it was reason that did a story on a laundromat that the owner wanted to tear down and build condos or something. Years and years of legal battles against the usual forces. Then they wonder why housing isn’t affordable. Not allowed to meet market demand.
There’s also the stealth inflation of shrinking quantities; a package of hot dogs that used to be a pound is now 12 ounces, a half gallon of OJ is 50 ounces instead of 64, etc. I recently bought a “gallon” of paint and upon closer examination discovered it’s 3.6 quarts; I could continue this list ad infinitum but it’s obvious how everything is rigged – figures lie and liars figure.
+1
Exactly! Been watching this happen for many years.
It’s called “shrinkflation.” Been around for some time now.
Gaslighting too, calling smaller candies at Halloween “Fun size!”
Sadly I’ve been forced to participate in it. Redesigning and reprogramming packaging lines to change from 5lb to 4lb commodities. I’m sure 2.5 or 3 will be next.
Watch for the move to metric equivalents.
Texans know all about energy hyperinflation at this time. Maybe time to re-evaluate the priorities, make some hard decisions.
Lo and behold a Chinese national corporation has purchased 140,000 acres of west Texas land and is an energy giant in the bidness. No need to wonder why Texas is caught with its pants down.
You can’t make this stuff up.
The push for renewable energy through a mix of federal, state, and local subsidies and mandates is not only putting the U.S. at risk of becoming perilously dependent on intermittent wind and solar power for its electricity. It is also providing a glide path for a hostile foreign power to mess with the nation’s power grid and damage our critical energy infrastructure.
Houston-based GH America Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese Guanghui Industry Investment Group, which, since 2015, has purchased about 140,000 acres in Val Verde County, Texas. The Xinjiang-based parent company is a massive conglomerate with extensive holdings in real estate, liquified natural gas, transportation, and chemicals. Guanghui’s billionaire founder, CEO, and Communist Party member, Sun Guangxin, wants to erect hundreds of wind turbines and perhaps several giant solar arrays on his West Texas acreage, a plan that is running into stiff resistance from residents and national security experts alike.
Located about 200 miles west of San Antonio, the Devils River area of Val Verde County would be site of Mr. Sun’s renewable energy mega-project. The sparsely populated area is home to a few Texas-size family ranches, lots of wildlife, and Laughlin Air Force Base in nearby Del Rio. French and Middle Eastern companies already operate the sprawling Rocksprings Val Verde Wind Farm, a complex covering 15,000 acres within 15 miles of the Devils River. The thought of having even more wind turbines, soaring hundreds of feet into the air, further disfiguring West Texas’s rugged but picturesque back country has long-time ranchers on edge.
https://ourcommunitynow.com/news-local/chinese-owned-wind-farm-in-devils-river-texas-threatens-power-grid-and-more
I doubt the Chinese billionaire is too concerned about the welfare of Texans, just another day of business as usual. Texans are Uyghurs for Chinese billionaire Sun for all he cares.
What could possibly go wrong?
What the heck else are they going to do with all the dollars we’ve been sending them for their stuff? Might as well repatriate it by buying up real estate.
The elites don’t understand inflation. When I bought my home my father asked why I would want to leave Aspen. I reminded him that I really couldn’t afford to live there and pointed out the $25 hamburger lunch we had at the “local’s” restaurant. The private jets cost about $20,000/hr to run. The cost of running (registering) multiple vehicles, including a Tesla, is a footnote and not even seen. People who’s budget is dictated by a monthly allowance from their accountants don’t know about inflation. Just put it on the AMEX Black card and move on.
‘The President Selected wants to raise the minimum wage to $15.’ — EP
Ditto the VP, whose home state of Commiefornia ALREADY is phasing in a $15 minimum wage by 2023.
But critics beware: ‘Black, female and high-profile, Kamala Harris is a top target in the online fever swamps,’ taunts the New York Slimes.
Never mind that some thoughtful, informed citizens oppose Kamala Harris on the issues: she wants to ban IC-engined vehicles; outlaw scary-looking guns and larger magazines; tax ammo; indoctrinate school children with BLM and transgender propaganda; institutionalize vote fraud; and generally, remake America in the image of her failed one-party socialist hellhole of Commiefornia.
As Old Woke Joe approaches a challenging State of the Union event that risks making his mental deterioration undeniable, the insolent Lügenpresse prepares the ground for the Kamala administration by asserting in advance that all criticism of Her Wokeness is racist, illegitimate, and maybe even grounds for being arrested on charges of white supremacy.
On a lighter note, it’s kinda cool residing in an ‘online fever swamp,’ though one suspects that this is a back-handed swipe at Florida by envious, sunken-chested progressive journos in their squalid urban rabbit hutches.
I’ll admit I’m astonished at how much printing has gone on and inflation isn’t worse. I got interested in all this stuff around 2011 after listening to Ron Paul talk about the debt ceiling and a national debt of $11 trillion. They printed at least that much in 2020. The debt is now $27-28 trillion. I know inflation lags and I’m now hearing concerns about it (and, more importantly, seeing action taken) by even financially aware non-libertarians. I think things could happen quickly and this is perhaps the one wildcard in the now fully developed tyranny train we’re all on.
‘I know inflation lags … things could happen quickly’ — Hatteraszek
Yep. Dr Copper done blown a gasket, ripping maniacally to $4.06/lb on Friday. Fever chart:
https://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=hgh1&insttype=&freq=&show=
Reckon what that’s gonna do to price of vehicles. Here’s the sad bill of particulars about copper content from copper.org, which takes a highly proprietary interest in such matters:
Conventional cars … 18-49 lbs
Hybrid electric (HEV) … 85 lbs
Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) … 132 lbs
Battery electric (BEV) … 183 lbs
https://www.copper.org/publications/pub_list/pdf/A6191-ElectricVehicles-Factsheet.pdf
Wake up Elon … Dr Copper gon’ bite yo a$$.
I’m a big fan of coinflation.com. A subtle way to glean a person’s political leanings is to discuss copper pennies and their intrinsic value as metal. I used to do this when working events as a retailer. Boobus doesn’t know and doesn’t care. Liberty oriented folks always want to talk about it.
> Yep. Dr Copper done blown a gasket, ripping maniacally to $4.06/lb on Friday.
Damn…a while back, I was sorting copper pennies out of rolls brought home from the bank. I’m not sure how many rolls I’m sitting on, but it only takes $1.54 (face value) of pre-1982 pennies to make a pound of copper (95% copper, 5% zinc). Now the melt value’s approaching 3x face value. It’s not quite gotten to the same level as silver (where a pre-1965 dime is now worth $2), but it’s moving in that direction…and unlike silver dimes and quarters, copper pennies are still in everyday circulation.
Wife and i share the food purchasing duties, always have so i have noticed how costs have skrocketed over the past 10 to 15 years. Used to be $100 was enough to get us through a week or more with groceries. Now it’s closer to $250, sometimes more. I used to be just a recreational hunter and if i missed a deer or turkey season, oh well i’ll get em next year. Now its a requirement along with the deep freezer and vacuum sealer to supplement the high costs of beef. When i do buy beef i usually buy in bulk from a place like Costco and then cut the larger sized cuts of meats to smaller portions so they last longer.
DOnt know if you guys follow Charles Hugh Smith – he does a good Burrito index – the same burrito since 2000 – what costs have done. Last update I can find is from 2018 – but the cost has increased from 2.50 in 2001 to 7.50 for the same burrito (without substitutions) for the same thing in 2018….
Ha! Like minds, Nasir? I was thinking of The Burrito Index as I read Eric’s article, too.
The gas station Quick Star advertises ground beef for $1.99 on a billboard here. I imagine it’s a, “loss leader”.
I still remember 99 Cent Big Mac’s in the 1980’s. Maybe it was just promotional pricing, Idk.
(Hmm, funny how there’s a $ symbol on my keyboard, but not a Cents symbol.)
You think you’re seeing inflation now? Wait until the COVID cage door is opened, if it ever is. The reason inflation isn’t much higher is that people aren’t being allowed to spend as much money as they normally would. The simple fact that people are paying down their credit card debt instead of running it up is evidence that people simply aren’t spending as much as they were, even those that haven’t lost their job. Another factor could be folks wising up to the fact that the Stock Market is a casino owned by the bank cartel, and the house makes the rules and ALWAYS wins. If a fraction of the money in the market was thrown into the economy, inflation would take off. Several years ago, I read a compilation of correspondence written by Germans in the Weimar era. A thing that was common throughout nearly all of it was “this did not happen gradually”. Hyper inflation fell on them like a ton of bricks. The free market was created by God. There is no flaw in it. Our economy is being controlled by psychopaths who believe without any doubt they are smarter than God.
American’s paying down their debt? That would have been seen as blasphemy 8 years ago. I know my wife and i have basically made it a mission to pay off everything we had outstanding. I’m guessing these banks, credit card companies and mortgage lenders are seeing this too. Based on the amount of advertisements, and pushing we are getting to open new lines of credit/re-finance/ take “equity” out of our home, its obvious that these conglomerates are worried that Americans may be wising up to the forever increasing debt and may be doing something about it. No shit, quicken loans has called us for at least 6 months now trying to get us to re-finace. And they are trying to pit me against my wife in the process. They will call every # they have on file for us till one of us picks up. I tell them no and to stop calling and they start on my wife. She tells them no and they back off for a few weeks then start again. The plan is to always have you refinancing so 1. They can tack on thousands in fees to the end of your mortgage and 2. if you have a 30 yr fixed to always keep you between years 20 & 30 (when they make most of their interest) 15 yr fixed to keep you betwern years 10 & 15.
The entire world economy is based on fiat currency and debt. Fiat currency and debt allows them to manage the value of “money” to suit their needs.
I learned at an early age that debt was a chain of slavery around one’s neck, and have since endeavored to avoid it, and if I needed to incur it, to dispose of it as quickly as possible.
Sage economic advice from my recently late father. “If you live above your means, you never have money. If you live beneath your means, you always do. And don’t do business with those who trade in horses.” I’m not certain about the horse thing. Possibly derived from a personal experience of his own. But the rest is simple math.
Hi John,
I practice that philosophy – of living beneath one’s means. I’ve never bought a car or motorcycle I couldn’t pay cash for. This has meant never buying a car or bike that cost more than about $8k. But it also means I can afford to repair them when needed – without “putting it on the card.” I buy used clothes. I live in a house that cost less than the house I owned before, using the profit I made selling the old house. I heat with wood. Etc.
Almost anyone can do more or less the same. Yet most do not – and then wonder why they have to “put it on the card.”
John- I think the “system” was imploding in late 2019 (remember the repo crisis?) and needed extremely large (trillions) injected to save it. Under the guise of the plandemic, they printed what they needed, and more, to save the system and spread the loot among all levels of gov’t and associated cronies. To offset the inflation they instituted all those unscientific and economically crippling measures to reduce economic activity and the velocity of money. I agree with you that if they remove all such measures, inflation will skyrocket. As such, I think they’re trying to lengthen the whole thing as much as possible. One way or another, despite the best laid plans, there will be a reckoning.
It was indeed imploding, as evidenced by more than 200 CEO’s of major corporations retiring and cashing out in January 2020. It was crumbling beneath their feet, so they needed a thing to maintain their “lifestyles of the rich and famous”. Voila, a “pandemic”, which has been successfully used to extract what wealth remains among the 99.9% and deliver it to the 0.1%, thus continuing that lifestyle for them.
Why is beef so expensive now, relative to other meats? I never thought I’d be in a position where I’m actually buying less of it because of the cost. A chuck roast is now a luxury, not a Wednesday night. What happened?
Can’t find the story now, but rumor going around the Internet is that the big commercial processors are pushing food exports over local markets. It’s always been that way (best steaks are in New York), but lately seems to be going international because the margins are better. Maybe after the cheap oil works its way though the system the margins will change, but until then we’re probably going to see big producers chase after the profits.
It’s the rollout of the Great Reset driven by the World Economic Forum. Part of the plan is to dethrone the US as the world’s foremost superpower. What better way to do so than to destroy the world’s reserve currency. And nearly every one of our “representatives” are paid shills.
Buckle up, folks. It’s going to be a brutal ride.
I would have to be starving to eat micky D’s. Even then I would consider going hungry and saving up for real food.
I pay nine and half bucks for a real 1/2lb burger and fries at a ma and pa place. It’s a good deal cheaper on the day it’s a special but because corona I am not over by there on the day it’s a special except on very rare occasion. It was cheaper before corona. eight something I think. The corona shutdowns screwed up the beef supply chain real good which is the reason for most of the high prices now.
Eric,
All I can tell you is that four ground beef patties at my local supermarket are fetching $6-$7-for hamburgers! I can tell you that when I get a lot of groceries, it can cost me $80-$90. I remember that that would feed TWO people not so long ago! I remember when my mom messed up her knee back in the 1990s, I’d do the grocery shopping; it cost $80-$90 or so to feed the both of us. Now, it won’t feed much more than me and my cats, and I eat a lot LESS than I used to! Maybe it’s my cats? They eat a lot, especially the former shelter cat. I spoil ’em rotten though… 🙂
I haven’t noticed McD’s so much, simply because I only go there once a week for breakfast. That sets me back $6-$7, depending on what I get. If I go there for other than breakfast, I don’t get a whole meal; that’s too much to eat! I might get a small cheeseburger and 4 McNuggets or a 10 piece McNuggets; that costs me $4-$5. Since I’m not getting the whole meal, I don’t notice the price increase at McD’s as much.
As for my utility bills, particularly my electric bill, they’ve gone DOWN! My electric company put in a smart meter, so my actual usage is billed; it’s no longer estimated. Even in summer time, when I run the A/C a lot, I pay $75 or so for the month, whereas it used to be $95 a month in summer when the bills were estimated. While I don’t like the privacy aspects (or lack thereof, I should say) of the smart meter, my electric bills have come down like 20%-25%. I won’t complain about that!
As for my other utility bills, my internet is a bit high. My phone bill (yes, I still have a land line!) is sky high; I wish it were less. My water bill is about the same. So far this winter, my gas bill is about the same; the real test will be after this month.
My insurance has gone up, big time. I might look for another company. I’ve been with the same company for over 20 years. Between their high rates ($2k for full coverage of my car) and their politics (dropping the NRA discount, which I never knew they had), I’m going to look elsewhere when I renew at the end of the summer.
I haven’t calculated the actual inflation rate. All I know is that the gov’t can change what’s in the CPI, which can skew the inflation rate. That is to say that the gov’t inflation rate is BS. That’s all I know…
Hi Mark,
Food and housing seem to be the main things that people have to buy that have gotten very pricey in recent years. In re the latter, even in my area- which is an “affordable” area – people routinely pay $1,200-$1,500 a month to rent an apartment or small house. I think some of that has to do with many people not being able to scrape together the 10 percent down it takes to buy a place.
Fuel has been pretty affordable – but that is changing. In my area, gas that was $2.20 or so before the election is now around $2.50 and I expect that to rise. The cost of new cars is going to explode.
I am grateful that I have my own water, so no bill for that – and my electric bill is low because I can heat with wood (free).
The cost of food is an issue – even more so, it’s availability in future. This is why I resumed raising chickens and intend to expand this to include a greenhouse, which together could supply me with enough food to get by without having to spend much at all. I recommend everyone who can do so do the same, soon.
Are you going to heat your greenhouse? If so, do write about it. I’m contemplating building one as well, just can’t see how to economically heat it.
Seems to me, if it’s not heated, it’s just a fancy hoophouse or large cold frame. As it is, I’m leaning towards cold fames, maybe attach them to the house and/or on a window so an open window will heat it and the tax man won’t see it as an addition or an extra building to tax?
I’m doing stuff too slowly though, due to the cold weather, a snails pace at -20.
Oh, and I wanted to thank you guys for helping to motivate me to take apart my first pallet this weekend.
I’ve stacked and loaded thousands of them, first time taking one apart, totally, anyway.
It was an old one which had been recently been repaired, lots of it broke in the process and I’m telling you, those twist nails they use can be an absolute bugger to get out.
I went low cost frugalist and used no power, the way this guy took one down in 10 minutes, took me a lot longer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMcyXes7MPg
Look into “Rocket Mass Heaters”.
Other options to help with heat;
If you have a south facing slope, set your greenhouse into it so the back wall is completely earth. Get double wall perspex greenhouse panels for the roof. Compost inside your greenhouse. Decomposition creates heat.
“Compost inside your greenhouse. Decomposition creates heat.”
Good food for thought, thanks.
And, oh man, I think that video link above which I posted on how to take apart a pallet does Not work when it’s 10-20 degrees F outside.
I just broke down my second pallet, a nice one, wound up with a buncha kinda broken worthless-ish wood, the nails wouldn’t come out of the 2×4 and pulled straight through the thiner boards splitting them and splintering them up big time.
I’m guessing it’s gotta be 70 degrees F plus for that method to work.
Earth sheltered greenhouse
https://b-ok.lat/book/1057681/85429b
Eric,
I got a small car because, even if OM had stuck around, he’d be gone in 2024 at the latest. Who knew what would happen then? Ah, but Creepy Joe has been installed. Anyway, I knew that, sooner or later, gas prices would rise, so I got a small, fuel efficient car. That, and I don’t need much more than that; if I need a bigger vehicle, I’ll rent it.
One place I’ve noticed inflation is in McD’s breakfast burritos. When they first came out like 30 years ago, they were a good size; you needed both hands to eat ’em. Now, they don’t go much past the palm of one hand. Oh, and they were cheaper then too! As someone else said, “shrinkflation” has really taken off.
Back in 1962 a fast food hamburger cost ten cents. A silver dime, which now is worth 2.70 USD with silver at 27 dollars per troy ounce, bought you something to eat. The 10 cent burgers were good too. The 10 cent burger now costs 2.70 and more. A burger shop these days wants ten dollars for a burger and fries. I’ll go for the Kung Pao chicken, a better choice. A gourmet burger in Hamburg will be the most desired.
In 1962 the minimum wage was 1.15 USD per hour, US minted coin, legal tender, had 90 percent silver content, a 1.15 USD minimum wage would be equal to about 27 dollars per hour in 2021 dollars. 1.15×0.9=1.035 oz of silver, close enough. 2000 hours of work time in a year, 50 weeks times 40 hours, you should be earning 54,000 dollars per annum to equal 1962 wages, dollars. You would be more willing to work a job and a lot happier with another 40 grand each year.
If your wage is 7.25 USD per hour, you are being shorted about 20 dollars per hour using the 1962 minimum wage as a gauge and comparison. Billionaires have the money you should have.
You are being taken to the cleaners, raked over the coals, wages need to increase substantially.
Copper is three dollars per pound scrap, 151 copper pennies weigh a pound, 3.11 grams each. Your copper penny is worth 2 cents scrap. Something ain’t right for sure.
Copper pennies from 1911-59 are worth anywhere from 35 cents for older pennies, 15 cents for 30’s and 40’s, even more for different years and nine cents each for 1950’s dates. A 1917 wheat penny in average condition is worth $3.20, 120 dollars in mint state condition. Hang on to any kind of gold, watches, jewelry, coins. Canadian one dollar paper bills are worth 3-5 dollars each.
Why do you want to eat at McDonald’s anyway? Costs too much nowadays. Quit being so selfish and greedy, eat bugs and worms, the Agenda 30 food choices on the menu for the Great Unwashed. Just head out to the woods and begin to forage, won’t even need a fork. Won’t be a need for money, free food in the woods, it’ll be alright. No fishing allowed.
Besides, you’ll be happier just being a serf with nothing, so don’t you worry. The Great Reset is going to fix it all. The fix is in, so to speak.
Though it’s going on 50 years ago now, I seem to remember Burger Chef charging a quarter for their burgers. An old McD’s commercial bragged that you could feed a family of 4 for $5. Can you believe it?! Does anyone remember Burger Chef?
while you are on track, you err on the fed ownership issue.
the fed is nominally ‘privately owned’, that is true as far as it goes, the shareholders of the fed are the member banks, and upon a more than superficial glance, you will find that it is the governments and their myriad agencies that own the majority shares by investment of EVERY ‘publicly traded’ commercial corporation, world wide. it is a tenet/plank of communism (actually 2), ie., state owned ‘means of production’ and a state owned/controlled central bank
the fed was created by congress and thus the creator controls it.
p.s. where i live out in the PDRH, a QP w/cheese is currently $5.89 fires and drink are extra. a large fries is $3.84
Hi Eric. Of course the government’s inflation figures are total bull. The fault lies largely with the Reagan and Clinton administrations, both of which changed the way inflation is measured in order to deliberately understate it. A far more accurate picture can be seen at shadowstats.com.
The situation we face now is beyond worrisome. The crazed creation of trillions of dollars is the very definition of inflation and will continue to cause dramatic increases in the price of food, as well as everything else. Incomes will not rise commensurately. The wise thing to do now is to buy as much canned food and other non perishable items as possible.
Amen, Mike –
I’d also add: Buy as much equipment as needed to create renewable food – such as chickens and other livestock, a garden and so on. They can’t inflate that away and if the worst happens, you won’t starve.
Eric,
They can’t inflate that away but there is nothing stopping them from getting 20 or 30 agw’s together and coming and taking them from you. After all it won’t be “fair” that you have those chickens while others don’t. And if they manage to get their gun confiscation schemes through a rubber stamping sc all bets are off.
Antilles,
This is not a joke. My wife is from the former Czechoslovakia. While growing up there during the communist regime, AGW’s would come to her house, and relieve her mother of eggs, milk, meat etc. that she produced for her own use. Seriously! They took the food produced by the peasants in the village much like kings of old used to do. Will it happen here?
Inflation is one thing, hyperinflation is another, and currency collapse is another. At a certain point in the process allegiance for money payment wears down and the underlying morality (or immorality depending on how you look at it) of competing gangs takes over. At the far end of the collapse spectrum you end up with the kind of things that guy Selco talks about on sites like SHTF Plan regarding his experiences in the Balkans? in the 90s.
The election cycles of Carter and Regan and then perfected by Clinton were revolutionary in the sense that they really cemented the fact that the president in power is somehow responsible for the economic state of the economy.
You’re not wrong Eric. I’ve noticed the skyrocketing prices within the past couple years. I was grocery shopping a week ago at Foodlion. I have a relative who works there and was discussing the prices with her. I made a joke with her that I couldn’t afford to eat on full prices and they outa have a in store financial office to issue small loans for the customers so they can afford their shopping. They way things are trending, that would not surprise me at all. It may get so bad that the company pension I’m locked into and was frozen 8 years ago (around $500 a month) would be just enough to purchase a pound of bologna and a box of crackers when I retire 14 years from now. That’s if the dollar doesn’t collapse first.