Thursday Thirteen #780

1. I've been seeing commercials for products that I hadn't noticed in a long time, like Lipton Tea, Quaker Oats, and Nestle Crunch chocolate bar. I'm assuming these are products that people aren't buying because of price increases. (I've not a seen a Nestle Crunch bar on the store shelves in years; have they brought this one back because of the chocolate shortage?)

2. We are shopping with our budget in mind, too. We are sticking to the necessities. We do consider peanut butter and Ritz crackers to be necessities. I stopped drinking tea two years ago when I developed an ulcer and never returned to drinking it; I drink only water these days.

3. I priced frozen turkeys in the store the other day; a Butterball was $2.99 a pound, while a different brand was $1.99 a pound. The Butterball costs almost as much as a steak used to.

4. A good ribeye steak at the supermarket costs $11.99 a pound.

5. My father asked me how I liked paying Biden's prices; I responded that he doesn't have anything to do with it. He laughed at me and said it was all his fault.

6. However, inflation is worldwide. We're at an inflation rate of about 8.5%; the United Kingdom is at 10.1%. Canada is at 8.1%, Turkey's jumped 79%, and Australia's is at 6.1%. Goods from China don't have as far to travel, I guess.

7. Corporate profits are currently at all-time highs, so much of this "inflation" is being fueled by greed. "A study in April that found corporate profits accounted for more than half of the price growth between 2020 and 2021 in the non-finance corporate sector, which makes up about 75% of the private sector." - ABC News

8. "Despite rising inflation, major U.S. corporations are reporting record profits, as companies pass rising supply-chain costs onto consumers. . . .  concentrated market power is contributing to inflation. - PBS News

9. It really doesn't matter the reason; if people stop buying Lipton tea because it now costs $5.49 for 75 tea bags, then there eventually will be a drop in prices as the products sit on the shelf.

10. In the cattle market, a piece of beef has to go through many hands to reach the consumer. We, the little farmer, send our calves to market and we receive about $1.25 a pound, on average. From there it goes to a feed lot, which fattens our grass-fed cattle up with grains. They sell the fatter cattle to the meat processor, who sells it to the grocery store. Everyone has to get a share of the sale, with the consumer paying the end price that is ultimately passed down the line. If the farmer only receives $1.25 a pound for a ribeye steak on the hoof, I am not sure who is getting that other $10 plus that the grocery stores are selling the meat for. There's a profit margin or a greater expense (fuel, perhaps?) there somewhere that wasn't there for the last 10 years (our prices haven't increased much over the past decade), and it's not on our end, not after we pay for fertilizer for the pastures, required vaccinations for the cattle (yes, there are required vaccines), and the machinery it takes to make the hay to keep them well fed.

11. Many people have no idea how food goes from farm to table. I think some of them think the grocery store just spawns it out in the warehouse in back of the building.

12. My point is, the economy is much more complex than people realize, by the time one factors in supply and demand, costs of production, and shareholders' desire for increased profits. It's not something any one person, not even the president, can snap their fingers and change, not in this day and age. Maybe he could have made a difference before 1980, when we had regulations and large mergers were not allowed by the government. But not today.

13. The thing I remember, always, when dealing with prices and economics I cannot control, is that the experts don't know, either. In 1987, when we built our house, the interest rate was 13 percent on the loan we took out. Economists were shouting that was as low as the interest rates for a mortgage would ever go. We refinanced several times as the rates dropped; they reached a low of what, 3 percent? So, the talking heads don't know. They can't predict the future any better than I can.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 780th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.