Gas Prices Start to Affect Food Prices (WTOL-TV, Toledo)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=3704518

TOLEDO -- High gas prices may not only pinch your wallet at the pump but also at the supermarket. Some stores and even restaurants may have to charge more to cover their costs.

Talk about sticker shock. Hal Spradlin couldn't believe pump prices when he filled up his delivery truck Tuesday morning. Usually $65 gets him close to a full tank. But Tuesday? "Three-quarters of a tank," Spradlin said. And by week's end, Hal will nearly pay three times as much. "It's an average of $180 a week to fill this thing up. Twenty cents a gallon makes a big difference," said Spradlin.

If you think what Hal pays at the pump doesn't affect you, you're wrong. Hal delivers produce for Sam Okun, a food wholesale business in downtown Toledo. Even though the company does not charge extra for gas, the increase cost is built in to the price of some products. "Lettuce that cost us $8 before, we were getting $10 now. We are )selling it for) $10.50. It is affecting the price of the commodity that the customer is buying," said Neil Bornstein of Sam Okun.

Some analysts expect the price of gas to continue to rise. Oil prices hit another all-time high in trading on Monday, with a barrell of crude oil goint for $63.94 cents a barrel. That's more than three times the price it cost three years ago.

[durablend]

1. "Start" to affect food prices?

Where the hell have these people been the past year or two?

Or does the maid/servants go fetch the groceries for their households?

[Rex_Goodheart]

2. At the local Lowe's Foods here in Charlotte...

I noticed that a can of Fat-Free Pringles had risen 30 cents and a container of Pet Lime Sherbet had gone up 20 cents since my last visit.

My immediate thought was that higher fuel prices would begin to affect my food budget.

We are headed for some bad, bad times I'm afraid.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

5. Junior, 2 days ago: "The economy of the United States is strong"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050809-3.html

The economy of the United States is strong, and the foundation for sustained growth is in place. The economic agenda is based on the fundamental trust that the American people make good decisions for themselves and for their families. And that's why my policies allow more Americans to keep more of what they earn, to have more control over their daily lives from health care to education to their retirement. It makes sense to trust people with their own money.

I'm pleased to report that the strategy is working. The economy is growing faster than any other major industrialized country. Job growth is strong. We added over 200,000 new jobs in July. This country has added nearly 4 million new jobs since May of 2003. The unemployment rate is 5 percent, which is below the average of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Americans have more money in their pocket, and that's good news.

[phantom power]

8. I'm sure the economy looks great if you're a rich oil-man like Bush.

Record profits, you know! The rest of us can eat cake, can't we?

[getmeouttahere]

10. How exactly do I have more money in my pocket...

when it costs so much more to fill up the tank? Not to mention the fact that I was laid off from my job of 10 years a few years ago and make at least 35% less.

[Chipper Chat]

3. "A chickenhawk in every pot"

That's the problem.

[thereismore]

4. That's a good one Chipper! nt

[durablend]

6. Correction

A RICH chickenhawk in every pot

They'll pay the prices...they might bitch about them, but they'll surely cough it up. It's the REST of us (the "unwashed") that'll have to suffer.

[Chipper Chat]

7. The rich get the breastmeat.

We get the feathers.

[ramapo]

9. That's impossible

Inflation is under control. Food prices haven't risen. Housing and medical costs are stable. The stock market is up. My house is worth so much I'm rich and can get cash to buy crap.

[depakid]

11. Gee, do ya think?

Only local "news" would feel the "need" to make such obvious connections an treat their viewers like imbeciles. If they were actually adhering to their public interest duties (and were worth actually being licensed) they might make the connection to globalization and maybe let people know how important it is to support local small farmers- especially during the summer months....

[wellst0nev0ter]

12. "At Least Those Homos Won't Be Allowed To Settle Down"

:eyes:

[BiggJawn]

13. This is NEWS??? Where have these people been?

What used to cost $40 at the store now costs $50 or $60. It's been like that ever since gas broke the $2 milestone.

And I'm not eatin' Chateaubriand here, lemme tell you THAT straight up!
No tobacco, no booze, just FOOD. Not even any chocolate bars anymore. Just the stuff I need to be able to go to work everyday and bust my balls so I can take my paycheck and sign it right over to PHARMA, and Big Oil, and the Produce Mafia, and the Utilities Robber-Barons...

You wanna know what Life without Chocolate is like?

Fuck you and fuck your "booming economy" George Dumbya!

[DeepModem Mom]

14. kick

[meganmonkey]

15. Buy local!

At least this time of year, if you aren't in a huge city, it is easy to find fresh produce galore, pretty cheap, and without a dozen middlemen making money off of it. And in cities, find a farmer's market! Support local farmers!!!!

*steps off soapbox* ;)

[info being]

16. Whole Foods has the right strategy...

They make all buying decisions regionally. That will allow them to provide the best products at lower costs over the coming years.

[davsand]

17. I nominated this thread.

I honestly think we are headed for the deep economic pits, and I think people need to be thinking about this.

We all know that food prices have been rising in the last few years. It isn't a news flash that you spend more to feed the family every week.

What also isn't a news flash is the fact that Greenspan kept on kicking that lending rate down into the toilet in order to keep stuff still moving. Now that we have, essentially, bottomed that out, we have no way to put any kind of brakes on inflation.

People are mortgaged to the hilt, they are maxed out on credit cards and the bills are still climbing. We have record home foreclosures, record uninsured people, and a new inability to get out from under previous debt by filing for bankruptcy. Topping all that off is a new increase in the cost of all our goods due to oil prices rising. (Yet again, the asswipe in the Oval Office screws us...)

I'm not an economist, (and I did not stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night) but it seems to me our economy is fucked to the point we are gonna need a bus to get BACK to just being fucked. I'm not sure we are even gonna manage bread lines like they had in the first Depression.



Laura