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Wholesale prices in food and fuel continue to rise. Fuel is driving some of the rise in food cost but the thing nobody talks about is the potential for food shortages this year and the affect that is having on the price.
Retailers have tried to hold down prices because retail sales are already soft, regardless of the happy, happy, sunshine talk from the administration. However, they can't do this forever. At some point the cost of food at the retail level will have to begin to reflect the wholesale cost.
Food and fuel are two things we must have. We can only cut them so far before we have to start cutting elsewhere. As the price of these commodities continues to rise they will begin to have increasingly dramatic affects on the rest of the economy.
If you can find cheap food now, buy it. Store it in your basement. You have to eat; this isn't going to change. Better to buy it while you can at a reasonable price instead of waiting until later when the costs have gone through the roof.
And don't forget, it's springtime. Get those gardens in and learn how to preserve your harvest. This could become a matter of life and death.
"Wholesale prices rose more than expected last month as food prices surged by the most in 26 years.
The Labor Department said the Producer Price Index rose by 0.7 percent in March, compared to analysts' forecasts of a 0.4 percent rise. A rise in gas prices also helped push up the index.
Still, there was little sign of budding inflation in the report, which measures price changes before they reach the consumer. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, wholesale prices rose by 0.1 percent, matching analysts' expectations.
Food prices jumped by 2.4 percent in March, the most since January 1984. Vegetable prices soared by more than 49 percent, the most in 15 years. A cold snap wiped out much of Florida's tomato and other vegetable crops at the beginning of this year.
Gasoline prices rose 2.1 percent, the department said, the fifth rise in six months.
In the past year, wholesale prices are up 6 percent, with much of that increase driven by higher oil prices. But excluding food and energy costs, they have risen only 0.9 percent."
Yahoo Finance
No food to eat, travel restricted and the air unfit to breathe. All from one volcanic eruption. How long can this go before civil unrest begins to occur? And this is potentially just the beginning if the sister of this volcano erupts.
Because of our interconnectedness the world is facing a moment of real destructive possibility. This could trigger world revolution, just as it helped to trigger the French Revolution 200 years ago. We are so tied together across the globe that hardship in Europe will be felt everywhere. Supply chains will be disrupted along with the flow of capital, each a link in a chain that must stay whole for all it's parts to work.
I don't want to sound like some crazy whack job but let history be your guide. This volcano has a history of causing massive societal disruption in Europe. It doesn't take a genius to understand that things have changed a bit since the last time because of globalization. As goes Europe, to some extent, so goes the world.
"One million Britons were stranded abroad last night by the travel paralysis caused by volcanic ash.
The unprecedented air lockdown was extended until at least 1am tomorrow, with Qantas cancelling all flights to Europe until further notice, and the chaos and confusion will drift well into next week.
...Fruit and vegetables including lettuce, grapes, spring onions and asparagus may be missing from many supermarket shelves next week and firms specialising in flying in produce from overseas are also warning of higher prices.
The transport giant Norbert Dentressangle said activity at its perishable air freight handling centre at Heathrow, the UK's largest, was at a standstill.
The result will be a three-day shortfall in the supply of products including prepacked fruit salads and flowers.
It said that while there are enough products on shelves and in warehouses to see stores through the weekend, supermarkets will be 'severely impacted' next week.
...Pilots have reported smelling sulphur dioxide, a gas released by volcanoes, in cockpits, and scientists said traces of volcanic dust on the ground had been found in Sunderland, Sheffield, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Lerwick.
The World Health Organisation said Europeans should try to stay indoors if ash starts falling from the sky.
A spokesman said the microscopic ash was potentially dangerous because inhaled particles can reach the lungs and cause respiratory problems. There is a heightened risk for those with asthma and respiratory diseases.
And while airlines are re-booking and refunding customers, critics accused insurance firms of dragging their feet in deciding whether they would compensate travellers or invoke catchall 'Act of God' clauses to escape a pay-out."
Daily Mail
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