Offshoot of Dollar limit for gas

[peternap]

This would take Mushcreek's post way OT so I thought I'd start a new thread.

The price of gas and diesel is going up. Even driving my little Focus to save gas, it cost me $33.00 to fill it up today. Roughly 8 dollars more than normal.

The cost of food is going through the roof. I eat a lot of green peppers because they tend to reduce my Glucose level. Most stores have them at $1.98 each and even going direct to the growers, 3 for $2.00.

My health insurance jumped again recently. No claims ever, no change, just another $50.00 a month jump. I had intended to remove myself from it and just leave Jane, just hadn't gotten to it yet. That's a done deal now and cuts the cost in half.

Building supplies have jumped even though there is darn little building going on.

As I posted a little back, Feed Corn is now $10.99 a bag, up from $7.99.

I can't raise my prices to compensate. People and companies simply won't use me. I have a friend that owns a camera shop with his brother. The shop is 30 odd years at that location. The brother just left and took a mediocre job because the shop just can't support them both anymore and it's questionable if it can support the one much longer.

Is this just Virginia or are the rest of you going through this and if so, what are your plans to compensate?

[Redoverfarm]

Peter this might explain the food prices and grain.  I found this almost unbelieveable that farming had dropped that much in the US.

In 1950, 5.4 million farms produced
food for 152 million people in the United
States and 2.5 billion people worldwide.
Today 2.2 million farms (60 percent fewer)
produce food for 310 billion people in the
United States (51 percent more) and 7
billion people worldwide (65 percent more).
The farmer's ability to grow greater yields
has burgeoned in this country. This has
permitted the growth of U.S. agriculture
exports from $6 billion to over $115 billion.
From 1998 to 2008 alone, agricultural
exports doubled from $52 billion to $115
billion. This is quite an achievement for the
farm community, despite over-regulation

The complete article by our Ag Commissioner is located here

http://www.wvagriculture.org/market_bulletin/Past_Issues/PDF_Pages/2011/4-11-pges1-2.pdf

[archimedes]

I've been selling insurance since 2006.  There has not been a single year since where premiums haven't gone up.  Often double digit increases.  Doesn't matter whether you have claims or not.   Too few companies monopolizing the industry to create any real price competition.

The world has changed.  Billions of people who we used to call "third world" now want to live like Americans.  Same size planet,  same amount of resources,  tremendous increases in demand for those resources,   causes prices to go up.  Not the only reason,   but one of the primary ones.

It really sucks for those on limited incomes.

[peternap]

John, I guess I realized it without really knowing it. I've commented many times about the sub divisions that are replacing farms. It's just a little shocking to see the numbers and the results.

Archimedes, I've been preaching to the Choir for a long time about what I perceive as a meltdown. I've been preparing for it for even longer. It just feels odd to seeing it become a reality. I'm luckier than a lot of people because I do have enough money to keep me going for a long time...but not forever if this continues. I atleast know where dinner's coming from.

I don't know John's exact situation but I suspect we are in the same phase of life. Retired from one profession and moving into another or in my case, multiple professions with the end goal being farming. I'm just behind him in the construction of the farm.

As far as the third world country's....we are an arrogant race of people. China is a good example. The Chinese invented most of the great ideas throughout time. They just got a little behind in electronics. They are back up to speed now and despite our views about how the citizens are treated, the country is back up to speed now while we are on a fast track downhill.

[MushCreek]

We were talking about this on another forum, and I remarked on how my pay has shrunk. I work in manufacturing (remember that?) and only recently got back to what I was making in 1995, and I had to take a management position to get there. I haven't moved in 30 years, so it's a direct comparison. How much have prices gone up in the last 16 years? That's how much my pay has decreased. That's not even factoring in how much taxes (mostly property) have gone up. It surprises me that we're still able to live comfortably. Where I work, wages were frozen for two years, and this year the maximum is 3%. Our company has to hold the line on prices, or lose the business to China.

[archimedes]

Interesting statistics

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/01/ceo-recession-return/