Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The grocery cart chart

in today's WSJ showed how food costs have jumped since the Democrats took back Congress in 2006. The change in consumer price index for food at home shows 2006 at below 1% and Feb. 2008 at 5.1%. Ouch.

Actually, I don't blame the Democrats specifically, but I do blame them generally because of their liberal policies, and Republicans RINOS helped. George Bush may be a Republican, but fiscally he isn't conservative.

1) Hostility to big retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, etc. at the local level which drives up costs for the poor and deprives them of jobs. Wal-Mart brings down prices in the area.

2) Hostility to drilling for oil and development of new refineries. This keeps us dependent on foreign oil and raises our food costs (transportation).

3) Deeply held, fundamentalist faith that man controls the climate. Regulations put in place by fear of global warming (while China and India do nothing) are promoting changes to less efficient and not yet highly developed biomass fuels.

4) Scare mongering by the main stream, liberal press even when we were experiencing the best economic upswing since the post WWII years.

5) Victimization and dependency building of minorities and lower income workers, increasing their need for government intervention, such as the latest housing problems when the meaning of "Adjustable Rate" came as a huge shock to home owners with no equity.

6) The threat of higher taxes, which both Democratic candidates are promising, has really cooled interest in investing just as boomers begin their retirement years. Hillobama makes rich people and corporations who produce goods and services out to be demons and bad guys while they and their families live luxuriously and send their children to private school. Even Mrs. Obama who earns a 6 figure income encouraged low income women in Zanesville, Ohio not to dream or aspire to a better life but to choose a service (less than $40,000) career.

But back to the grocery cart. When Kroger started its "loyalty card" program about 8 years ago, they lost me as a loyal customer. Loyalty plans are just a fancy name for couponing, and I refuse to play games with my food. (The original coupon was a wooden nickle.) So I switched to Meijer's, a nice medium sized Midwestern chain that doesn't use loyalty cards and gimmicks to save the consumer money. However, the nearest one is over 5 miles from here, so I've been trying out Marc's on Henderson Road. It is a small Ohio chain, and looks pretty low end when you first walk in with crowded aisles and check out counters that don't move. But I've been pleased with their organic selection, meat and fresh produce. Also, I'm less tempted to stroll through the household section and add to my food bill by picking up things I don't really need.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Comment on #3. I don't think anyone thinks that man controls the climate. Influence would be a better way to put it and I think that man can and does do this. There are many things that influence climate changes and over the long term...man is one of them.

Norma said...

Ohio used to be covered by a glacier and Lake Erie has changed it shape so many times I've lost count, but all before man arrived in the area. The propaganda is that we control it, even if the studies show we pollute, which can be cleaned up.

Three Score and Ten or more said...

Rather nice analysis, most of which I agree with (or with which I agree if one wants to be grammatically close.) I felt like you when the stores began cards, but I surrendered. I confess that I often sign up for the card as I finish shopping, so I have four or five Kroger cards, two or three Best Buy Cards, some from Food King, etc. etc. I like the Kroger Card because many Krogers sell gasoline now, and my Kroger card gets me a three cent discount.

Anonymous said...

Norma, man's INFLUENCE on climate change does not have to be in the immediate area where change took place. Who knows, had man been around in Ohio much earlier, the glacier may have stayed longer or left earlier depending the kind of influence that took place. I guess you don't believe in evolution either. LOL

Norma said...

LOL ANON: No, I don't believe in evolution (and didn't even when I was a humanist) and the more studies I read on genetics (the latest being on smokers), the more I wonder how any thinking person can.

Now that we've had a provable climate change to cooler (those of you rushing off to FL for the winter months missed it), the propaganda has shifted to blaming mankind for change instead of warming. This way, we can take the credit/blame and worship ourselves and our power, be it for good or evil.

ChupieandJ'smama (Janeen) said...

I agree with you on the grocery cards. Since our Giant Eagle got those, our grocery prices have skyrocketed. It's amazing and sad what I pay for groceries for a family of 4. I like Marc's and sometimes shop there but it's a "you get what we have" store and with my sons food allergies I can't buy certain brands of things so I ended up shopping at 2 stores which made my savings nil. But I still like to go there to stock up on some items and I agree with you on the organic section. Their prices can not be beat.

I have not been a big proponent of global warming. I do think the climate has changed some, but these things are cyclical and happen every hundred years or so. Having said that, I do think it's important that we make good choices to make OUR lives better. Green cleaning products and organic foods are good for people in general and not just the environment.