Breathing Room: What’s in Your Shopping Cart?
[NB: check the byline, thanks./~Rayne]
Usually when I publish a Breathing Room post, it’s a bit of a break from politics. Unfortunately there’s little in our lives not affected by politics and current events.
Everything you eat or drink has been political, but now food and beverages are even more volatile than eight months ago.
A simple weekly task like grocery shopping is rife with pitfalls, more so than during the early days of the pandemic.
Here’s a sampling of fresh groceries I frequently order from the local store of a national grocer:
This is ridiculous, a form of stupid bingo. Whatever I planned to cook this week is out the window if it relies on any of these out of stock or low inventory items.
Sure, I could go to the farmer’s market to see if I can find a locally grown option, but I have my suspicions the local farmers are having problems getting vegetables picked.
It’s possible some farmers might not show up at the market because they’re immigrants — no idea what their legal status may be but it doesn’t matter if they are scared they may be grabbed. The Asian gentleman with the gorgeous cōng, the Hispanic couple with the tasty zapallitos, the other Hispanic family with the calabazas and repollos may not be there this year.
Some items aren’t and haven’t been available because of persistent bad weather due to climate change. I haven’t been able to buy Napa cabbage with any regularity for two years now. Some dishes I cook are just not the same using regular green cabbage as a substitute.
The problem isn’t just Stephen Miller’s irrational and cruel immigration policies but the inability of the US to restrain its consumption of oil and natural gas, making climate change worse each year.
I’ll work my way around these supply chain disruptions and shortages. I’ll manage around the absurd prices on some items thanks to Trump’s irrational approach to overseas trade.
What really worries me: how do the folks in the bottom deciles navigate this? Are their children not getting enough fruits and vegetables because their parents can’t buy enough of them on their budget, or can’t find them even if they can afford them? How are families supposed to spend more precious time and gas running all over to find vegetables?
How the hell is this making America great again?
Don’t answer that, it’s a rhetorical question. None of this political bullshit causing shortages is necessary except to shake people down.
This is an open thread — tell us how you’re filling your shopping cart. Tell us how you’re helping others make ends meet.
We spend our summers on the Canadian border and pop over there quite frequently. The produce at the local farms on the US side is sparse, other than corn and some assorted seasonal fruits – where the orchards have gone fully “pick-your-own”. However, over in Ontario the farmers markets are pretty bountiful and the prices are actually lower this year, even with the adjustments in the dollar. Too bad you can’t take it back over the border for the most part. I have also noticed a distinct lack of Hispanic people this year and a lot more stories about boats going north over the river into Canada instead of the other way around. Definitely different days
File under you can’t own the Libs without killing your base.
Produce I buy in stores in stock is from overseas and already gone/going up with tariffs.
Thanks Rayne for your media on this tsunami of terrorism. Local nursing homes are
oblivious to Medicaid cuts. Local housing authorities are oblivious to the 26 billion
dollar HUD cuts. What can I do? Donate to individuals or food banks. Socialize.
So far this is at inconvenience level locally. Farm markets also experiencing less selection. Later in harvesting season it will be much worse for orchard crops.
Maybe I’m just lucky, but my area doesn’t seem to have any shortages or crazy price spikes. Stores are full of fruits and vegetables. I’m in Pittsburgh.
The farmer’s markets are abundant as well. One farm that has been in the area since I was a child (I’m 67), still comes in every week. Their stall is run by Latino men. I have no idea of their immigration status.
I do know ICE has been in the area, but nothing like what other areas have been through. I suspect we are low on their priority list. The city is blue, but ‘burbs and rural areas are very MAGA.
[Welcome to emptywheel. Please choose and use a unique username with a minimum of 8 letters. We adopted this minimum standard to support community security. Because your username is too short and common, your username will be temporarily changed to match the date/time of your first known comment until you have a new compliant username. /~Rayne]
Michigan is second most diverse state in crops it produces; the pickles on your fast food sandwich are likely to have come from this state, home of “that woman in Michigan.” We’ve also had raids on agricultural workers here though many publicized raids have focused on Detroit.
https://www.abc12.com/news/local/up-to-20-migrant-workers-detained-in-croswell-raids/article_e8038d8a-637b-44fd-9185-292f7d8722ad.html
Some of the produce shortages noted in the grocery store may be related to tariffs. Many salad vegetables are imported from Canada along with other fruits and vegetables.
As for Pennsylvania, perhaps you’re not *yet* seeing shortages but PA is certainly experiencing ICE raids which will affect agricultural work.
https://penncapital-star.com/agriculture-pa-farms/concerns-raised-in-pa-over-ice-raids-on-farms/
And perhaps you’re simply not going to restaurants affected by ICE raids in Pittsburgh, nor are you hanging out downtown where ICE has been grabbing people before scheduled court appearances.
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2025/07/07/ice-immigration-western-pa-arrest-raids-trump-bill/stories/202507030095
Welcome to emptywheel.
And al this while US is in growing season.
What happens when late fall, winter and spring come around?
Sweet corn had been on sale for about 3 weeks, so it was a bit of sticker shock to see what the “regular” price per ear is — almost double what it was last summer. This early in the summer the corn probably isn’t local. My grocery store is part of a large regional chain and they tout the fact that they get produce from local (regional) farmers — corn, asparagus, strawberries, blueberries and apples especially. I didn’t notice if the asparagus price was more than last year. I don’t buy asparagus. Strawberries are up a bit also and we should have local berries at this point.
There are few things that are absolute musts in our house that never went back down after the pandemic — Coke products and Rice a Roni. I expect the Coca-Cola company to raise prices again if they think they can get away with it regardless if any tariffs affect them. Fortunately the person in my house I buy the Coke Zero for has found other beverages they like and is drinking much less Coke Zero these days.
I’m waiting to see what Trump’s stupid attempt at shaking down Brazil will do to coffee prices.
When we lived in Georgia, Plant a Row for the Hungry had just started and I saw a lot of press on it. IIRC the local food banks got quite a bit of fresh produce from gardeners bringing their extras to them. I haven’t seen much about Plant a Row for the Hungry even during the pandemic.
Since you’re talking junk food, Kelloggs was purchased on the 10th in cash deal by one hell of a stock price premium, 40% premium to 30-day volume weighted average trading price.
What’s the buyer expecting, increased sales as Kelloggs sales have been decreasing and/or ability to raise prices?
“What’s the buyer expecting”
Ferrero is buying several things which the sales price reflects: a brand name with recognition going back ~109 years, access to the US market at scale, unique production equipment and plants, and an opportunity to realize increased profitability through economies of scale.
And of course diversification of products and profit centers.
You’re thinking of Kellogg’s as an American breakfast cereal company, affected by changing US consumption habits in tandem with demographic shifts. Ferrero sees opportunities to meld some of its products with Kellogg’s brands to both rejuvenate Kellogg’s and shift it to meet changed demography and consumption. Ferrero already owns some of Kellogg’s brands it sold off in 2019 — Keebler, Famous Amos, Kellogg fruit snacks, and Girl Scout cookies’ maker Little Brownie Bakers. Ferrero has been increasingly profitable; it probably wants more of the success it realized with the 2019 purchase.
It’s a shame Ferrero is private or I would have bought into this acquisition.
***light bulb moment***
That is why I see a lot of Kellogg product in Europe. I thought they just had a fetish for Kit Kat cereal. :p
=======
“…Girl Scout cookies’ maker Little Brownie …”
Rrrrreally. Huh. Little Brownie needs to cut down the greed on that particular product. This year may be the last year for me, ever: smaller box, smaller cookie, bigger price.
You’ll want to note that Kellogg’s split a few years ago into two companies — the other one is Kellanova and it owns some Kellogg brands, too. Mars has offered for Kellanova and is only waiting FTC approval to close the deal. WK Kellogg is North America while Kellanova was everything else.
Kit Kat cereal as well as candy bars are a Nestle product which readily explains their appearance in Europe. Ferrero may want a route into that market if Kit Kat cereal has been successful.
The fact that Trump’s psychotically narcissistic desire to impose his revisionist history of January 6 on Brazil–in the form of Bolsonaro being ‘treated’ according to Trump’s wishes–will likely jack up the price of coffee triggers a surge of anger and panic in me. Coffee!
Trump’s contempt for Africa oozes from his every pore. The best coffee comes from places he would love to slap tariffs on, just for the lulz. I keep praying that the courts will succeed in stopping this particular aspect of his madness (the tariffs), but I’m not holding my caffeinated breath.
***off food topic***
The SCOTUS didn’t stop Trump from dismantling the Department of Education, today. I’m finding the SCOTUS to be as useful as teats on a boar these days.
***Back to food topic***
Girding for doing what a friend did in the 1970s or so; quite drinking coffee when it got too expensive.
Meanwhile, my rainy day SBUX quad, which has more than doubled in price over the space of a few years, suddenly dropped a dollar over the last month.
I feel like a scab anyway, ever since they quit carrying the newspapers.
I prefer Columbian and Sumatra Mandheling, although both will likely go up. A rising tide raises all prices.
How am I filling my grocery cart here on the West Coast of Canada?
With no US products!
I don’t know how much you’re hearing in US media, but there is a widespread boycott of US products.
While occasionally inconvenient, several websites have sprung up to point people to Canadian items. In terms of our food shopping, it can be tricky to find certain vegetables, but we just make do.
Aside: tariffs will impact agricultural production. I’m not sure how aware Americans are that 90% of their potash comes from Canada. Potash is the K in NPK on the fertilizer label. Just another way that his policies will impact Trump‘s base -prices for fertilizer especially potash -will rise .
So much winning!
One of the few items for which there is no adequate substitute: bourbon.
Sigh.
Sorry about the bourbon, buddy. I stocked up on tequila and soju before Trump’s tariff tax troubles began, anticipating this hassle.
The potash is going to be a real problem. It won’t affect this year’s crop as much as future crops and it will affect our ability to export if the cost or the lack of potash hampers future crop productivity and quality.
Trump’s stupidity has a long tail — I sure hope he feels the political whiplash it will generate.
I discovered soju on a trip to Korea in 2012, via the good offices of a brother-in-law. It’s too expensive over here, as compared to Korea, where a bottle of decent stuff costs less than $2; here in Canada, something like $9. In Korea you can even get it in tetra-pak boxes, 6 in a batch, for a cost of about 50 cents per pack, or $3 for the 6.
I don’t think for bourbon lovers it would be an adequate substitute, but like music, it has its own charms to sooth the savage breast.
Soju is an acquired taste, as are the effects of having too much of it.
I certainly have heard about it.
I just arrived at a professional conference that includes both folks from the US and Canada, that I’ve been attending for over 25 years. I am really curious how many of my Canadian colleagues will be here in person, how many will attend virtually, and how many are giving it a pass altogether. Broadly speaking, the association is fairly progressive (e.g, has had various out LGBTQ officers), and wants to be supportive of the Canadaian membership, and I am anxious to see how that plays out this week.
Typically, at breakfast on Wednesday, the Canadian members (and their friends) sing a grand version of “O Canada.” I hope this happens this year, even if it just me and other US folks singing on behalf of our Canadian friends who chose not (or were not allowed) to attend in person..
Well, after our opening session this evening, I ran into a Canadian friend who is presenting at the conference. She told me that only a handful of Canadians were here (instead of the usual dozens), as most could not or chose not to come. In some cases, not only did their institutions tell them “we won’t pay for you to go” but also informed them that if they went, their Canadian insurance would not be valid while they were in the US. That puts “travel at your own risk” in a whole new category.
I will miss the conversations I was looking forward to having, and will have to reach out next week via phone or email to catch up with them.
Oddly enough, the farmers at the farmers’ market I’ve asked about getting Jamaican workers into the country this year have told me that it was easier than it usually is.
That doesn’t mean the prices have gone down by any means. $1.50 for one kohlrabi?! Good as it was.
Wonder if getting Jamaican workers is a function of where you’re located (no need to say where). We’re unlikely to see them here unless they are working in seasonal hospitality — Mackinac Island has historically drawn a lot of seasonal workers, for example.
Jamaican workers generally are on the East Coast. There are two farms I know which have decades long relationships with Jamaican seasonal workers and a former farm owner used to go to Jamaica in the winter to work with the community from which his farm got workers. These are generally fruit and vegetable farmers at my farmers’ market.
I’ve also seen one story on a Western MA tobacco grower who has a long relationship with Dominican workers (as I recall) from WCVB’s Chronicle which includes a long speech from him against Trmp’s immigration policies while praising the character and work ethic of the people who work for him.
The Pacific Northwest is my stomping ground and I live in the middle of a small triangle that has a Whole Foods, a Safeway, and a New Seasons. So name brand and local produce is relatively abundant, but prices have climbed by roughly 30–40%. Meats are skyrocketing. Corn on the cob; sweet and fresh. Strawberry season was a bust. Even our homegrown varieties came in slow with too many tart. Soda prices exploded, but July 4th sales let me restock for the summer with high discounts. Loss leaders I think.
My Arizona rural family with trucked in water is almost in dire straights having to drive many miles since local farmers markets closed.
I live in the Upper Midwest so there are a lot of fresh vegetables available at farmers markets and local food stand, luckily. Seeing some price increases already though, especially meat and highly processed food and orange juice. Trump’s totally knucklehead and probably illegal proposed tariffs on Brazil are going to drive coffee and orange juice up by a lot too!
We shop at Aldis. There is a noticeable drop in availability with empty shelves the day after their restock day.
i subscribe to a weekly vegan meal box. not a vegan, but it became harder & harder to cook for one so tried this out. love it. so many fresh veggies. the chef has not yet raised box prices, so i will ask her this week what kind of price increases she has been seeing for her supplies.
biggest issue lately: the food distributor for our local Co-op suffered a cyber attack a few weeks back, and the store as well as other grocery stores in the area had a lot of empty shelves for 2-3 weeks while the distributor re-built their computer system from the ground up. yet another area ransomware is wreaking havoc.
I’m growing for a local food bank. Most food banks want items that will store well and only accept canned goods. But I’ve found one that accepts vegetables. My watermelons and almost all of my cantaloupe were eaten by a critter from a nearby green belt. I put up a fence and that seemed to work – until the fruit got bigger and then the fence was useless. I took some comfort that they left the butternut squash alone, but that was short-lived, I found two were eaten last night. Still, I did harvest six butternut squashes and we have tomatoes, peppers, and herbs growing. I replanted a bunch of crookneck today, it’s been 115 days since the first crop was planted.
I’m expanding the growing area with containers and grow bags as well as my raised beds. Later this year, I plan to get some aeroponics going. A table saw mishap has kept me grounded since May 24th, but I get my last pin out on Tuesday!
It’s raining like crazy here – I’m in Travis county, Texas, about 95 miles from the horrific flooding in Kerrville. In that area, search and rescue teams are being called off due to ongoing rain. This amount of rain in summer is very unusual and the temps are lower than usual — we haven’t had a triple digit day and it’s mid-July. Nextdoor to us is Williamson county and there are two confirmed deaths and one missing in floods along Little Creek this weekend.
People need more help than ever before. I hope to have my garden more fine-tuned next year and will be able to get more food to hungry people on, hopefully, a consistent basis.
In metro KC, I too have found Napa cabbage to be hard to find, and when I find it, it has been old and not worth buying.
The other thing I have seen is a 50% rise in the price of coffee beans. I don’t think this is tariffs, as they have been TACOed and pushed back without taking effect. Instead, I think it because of the falling dollar, due to a general lack of confidence in the Trump administration abroad,Trump’s attempted meddling with the Fed, and his actual meddling with the US government.
I had Napa cabbage that was looking great at the end of April, it was getting huge. We drove to Calif to see family and we’re gone two weeks. The temp increased and the cabbage loopers came out of nowhere and destroyed the crop. Next year I start inside and transplant in early spring!
You might also want to look into using nematodes and/or BT to knock down the cabbage loopers before they emerge as adults. If the loopers fed well this year, they’re going to make a bunch of grubs next growing season.
I stocked up on coffee early in the year at Costco; I noticed the same cans I bought were now up $4 per can. Wonder when I should try to buy the next batch for the pantry for optimum cost averaging? It’s like playing TACO in the stock market — hard to do without insider information about timing.
Having an inside scoop at Costco, you’ll always get a good value – even if the price increases. And, if the item is on MVM (Costco coupon), you will never, ever find that item anywhere else at a lower price.
If you can find an item on MVM, stock up. The limit? Go back the next day because the limit resets.
If you ever see an item ending in .97, grab it, it will be the last time you see the item.
Cherries are my favorite fruit. I noticed a variety of prices at different stores the past two weeks: $5.99, $4.98, $4.69 a pound and the sale price last week $2.69 a pound at Aldi’s.
Shop at Costco, however lots of produce for one person, so I share with my friends in the neighborhood.
Saw a cherry grower from Oregon on IG last night. The trees are laden with gorgeous cherries and he has no one to pick They are going to lose everything on the trees and he and his wife are looking for jobs to try to soften the blow of the unharvested crop.
He said he has had the same harvesting crews for years. They don’t want to live full time in the US. They want to come and make American dollars to take home to their families. All he wants is a realistic farm labor policy.
I don’t know how Ag is going to survive four years of this insanity.
I’ve read that Oregon has had serious problems getting the cherry crop in because of labor shortages. Harvesting of Michigan’s cherry crop began just this past week. Not certain how far into the harvest other states with cherries are at this point, but point in harvest may be why cherry prices have dropped some.
In northeast, cherries at Shoprite this week $1.99 per lb.
We usually have decent luck with Costco produce here in Colorado. For whatever reason, the fruit we bought a little over a week ago was very disappointing. I was wondering if they stocked up early, but it didn’t keep.
(You didn’t hear this from me…)
…but you can return the produce if it’s not up to par for a refund. Just don’t make a habit of it*.
*more than three times a year. “They” do notice these things.
All of the above and I can’t get Green Chartreuse anymore. How can I have The Last Word?
Ha!! Love the reference, just finished the book [The Grey Wolf] and looking forward to her October release of The Black Wolf. thanks for making me feel smart! ;-)
The loss of Chartreuse liqueur has nothing to do with tariffs or ICE raids, though, and more to do with the appropriate moral response to overconsumption.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartreuse_(liqueur)#21st_century:_popularity_and_scarcity
“[T]he Carthusian monks decided in 2019 to limit Chartreuse production to 1.6 million bottles per year, citing the environmental impacts of production, and the monks’ desire to focus on solitude and prayer.”
As for the “appropriate moral response” it seems that the price of Chartreuse has doubled (when it can be found) in recent years. I suppose that permits the monks to sleep a little more comfortably.
The Carthusians are group hermits who practice silence most of their day and are dedicated to living a contemplative life. They’re not living large, especially when they exclude most modern conveniences like motor vehicles inside their monasteries.
Apparently you missed that the monks used the profits to fund charitable works — but you’re also assuming the retail price of Chartreuse reflects what the monks’ costs were (while supply chain has been under steep pressure due to pandemic and climate change), what they charged distributors, and what they received versus outright profiteering.
I’ll use the example of Weller bourbon. Depending on which bourbon under that label one buys, a bottle’s price can run in the triple digits — when purchased from retailers in the U.S. My spouse found it for far less in Canada; the retail price in the US was driven up by retailers. Why wouldn’t that kind of markup happen with Chartreuse, none of it making it back to the monks.
When I was in Amsterdam in May, I forgot to try Absinthe. Dang! I wanted to know what all the fuss is about.
Never fear, you can get it domestically now.
Here in Philly suburbs I haven’t noticed any shortages but I have noticed higher prices on everything esp. beef, chicken, milk, bananas. Then there’s shrinkflation, e.g., ice cream is down from 48 oz. to 46 oz.
I talked to the guy behind the meat/fish counter at a Harmons grocery store in Salt Lake. He said that meat prices were skyrocketing, but only at the upper and lower ends. Lower ends meaning oxtail, etc., not hamburger.
Also pointed out to me that he was selling King Crab a year ago at $45 a pound. This year, $90 a pound.
Oxtails the bottom? It’s pretty funny but Oxtails are very expensive here in MI. Which is sort of ironic and silly all wrapped up together. One needs an oxtail stew every year as November rolls around. Of course you have to chill it after cooking to scrape off all the expensive fat you just bought.
Fewer king crabs out there to be caught.
No lemons today, Miejer’s in W Michigan. The guy said none have come in for several days. A minor thing and/or a canary in the coal mine.
Ugh. Not a lot of alternatives to Meijer if you live in Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo area, either. I think the last Kroger affiliate closed not too long ago. I’ll have to check Meijer in mid-Michigan to see if they have lemons.
I haven’t noticed any shortages at my grocery store (New England) but that could be because my “diet” remains college food way too many years after. That said, I sure have noticed prices and they’re insane. It seems we’re getting taken for a ride (shocker I know), by big agra etc.
Johnny Harris recently posted a quick documentary of how this all works on youtube. If you want to check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyo1u9WxUG4
Here in Oklahoma by this deep into July we usually are begging to see a cloud, but this year the rain falls almost daily with no end in sight. The national news covers tornadoes in Wisconsin, fires in New Mexico, and flooding everywhere. The oddity to me is no one I hear is saying a word about climate change. Surely that effects food supply as well.
That’s because our PRESIDENT has reassured us that climate change is a HOAX.
On the other hand, we are 25 years into a severe drought here in Utah.
I think I will believe my lying eyes.
Back in the day, the Pentagon national security assessments cited climate change as part of the nation’s defense picture.
Out here in San Diego things are a mixed bag. The large grocery chains’ advertized produce prices are much higher than a year ago. But the local and small chains and “ethnic” groceries like Northgate and 99 Ranch still have great selection and about the usual peak season low prices: yesterday I got nice napa cabbage for $.49/b and broccoli for $1.49/lb. They do seem to have sales a bit less frequently: just 1 week of bing cherries from OR at $1.99/lb), and 3/$1 sweet corn only a couple of times so far this year. This may change by the fall because most of our summer & fall produce comes from (smaller growers & cooperatives in) Ventura, and the remaining labor there seems to be prioritized for current harvesting instead of planting for fall harvest.
Land and water are expensive here, so my gardening is limited to things I can grow better than buy: (low chill) stone fruit, citrus, and avocados each on multi-way trees I grafted to give long harvest seasons on the same tree, tomatoes, and passion fruit. Back in January I started 100 bare root everbearing strawberries to give 15-20 each to friends, so they get enough fruit to actually do something with for 6-8 months.
Our local food bank has a well organized system for getting not-yet spoiled produce from stores (including Trader Joe’s) to people the same day, so they don’t take garden products. A bit of cash funding for fuel for vans taking it out to schoolyard distribution points goes a long way.
My one problematic vice is Trader Joe’s pound plus chocolate, which has been inconsistently available this year and has doubled in price to $8-9 per .5kg.
Fortunately for us on this side of the border, there is an abundance of farm fresh fruits and veggies. And plenty of reasonably priced eggs. Trumpty is suggesting a 35% tariff on goods shipped from Mexico to the US, so you’d better prepare for crazy expensive avocados and tequila. The dollar is losing value all over, but particularly here in Baja Sur. When we moved here 15 days before the Covid lockdown in Baja March 19 2020, the peso/dollar exchange rate was 25 to 1. It’s now fluctuating around 17 to 1 and below. Coupled with inflation, that’s a pretty good hit for us retired ex-pats.
May I inquire how y’all’s IRAs and 401Ks are doing with Dip Shit’s yo-yo-ing tariff nonsense?
IRAs/401k are down about 13% since Dimmus Bulbus* took office, but that isn’t *too* bad considering the growth during the Biden years. I expect things’ll get worse as his destructive policies contract the economy further. I’m largely invested in Vanguard Target 2025 funds, so I imagine losses are worse for those with higher risk investments.
* Hat tip Jeff Tiedrich
I moved a chunk of my retirement to cash before migrating to CDs and bonds. I was exhausted by the whipsawing back and forth on a weekly and sometimes hourly basis.
I’d play the Lipstick Index now if the pandemic and market conditions hadn’t broken the cosmetic/beauty sector.
I’m fascinated by your Lipstick Index comments. I read that Wikipedia entry; it did not impel me to rejigger my meager retirement investments but it shed some light on a recent Amazon order of mine. It consisted of a haul of cheap but mesmerizing eye shadows in tiny pots, along with liquid eyeliners and two shades of red Revlon lipstick.
I had just learned about a very sizable debt, which I will call “household” because while I did not incur it, I now feel responsible for disbursing. I had neither bought nor worn makeup in decades. But newfound penury plus the need to console myself = makeup purchase, facilitated by Amazon. (Yes, I know.)
Your second link wouldn’t let me read the article; you have to be a member to read it. It looked very interesting. I would have speculated, based on my own experience, that people might be buying more cosmetics–and fewer clothes, shoes, and purses. Seems that’s not the case?
HABA sales and margin are always up period vs last year’s period, year after year, at the big C.
But HABA also includes baby diapers and nutrition drinks, for us.
Cosmetics are selling. (Or were, a few months ago.) But it’s not about fun or “beauty” now, it’s about political affiliation. I went down this rabbit hole (in search of the evolution of MAGA women’s faces) about redoing your “Republican” makeup. My own inference, having viewed the Before and After TikToks: when they say Republican, they mean childishly, badly applied. Plenty of GOPers know how to do it right.
Here’s the most official take I found:
https://www.glossy.co/beauty/whats-up-with-republican-makeup/
Mine is still holding up, or was, two weeks ago. But I have it in accounts with a respectable brokerage, and the instructions I last gave them were “no AI!”
As a suggestion for gardening, grow bags are cheap and can be moved in and out to avoid things like hail. And they help solve the problem of limited space for a garden.
Mobbing-Hood
Mobbing-Hood, Mobbing-Hood
Lying there and then
Mobbing-Hood, Mobbing-Hood
Where’s that autopen
Backed by the bad, bucked by the good
Mobbing-Hood, Mobbing-Hood,
Mobbing-Hood
You are the greatest botchers
Made your party so obscene
You destroy children; you own this thing
You send thugs and guards to torture
our migrant neighbor friends
In service to your Mobbing-Hood bling
[Chorus]
Mobbing-Hood, Mobbing-Hood
Lying there and then
Mobbing-Hood, Mobbing-Hood
Where’s that autopen
Backed by the bad, bucked by the good
Mobbing-Hood, Mobbing-Hood,
Mobbing-Hood
Your motives are the coarsest
A sham motto on your caps
You’re bullies always looking for a fight
Your yaps are always ready
and you keep your anger sharp
Used to incite the alt-right
[Chorus]
The horror struck and whittled down
they have an anxious look
They suffer deeds
from perverts who don’t care
Tyrants snatch all the money
from the people’s checkbook
and challenge us with a double dare
[Chorus]
Your cheating and corruption
The bad faith you have revealed
endanger us with hubris every day
Grovelers in the Cabinet
hurt the farmers in the field
You set us back with barbaric ways
[Chorus]
Your motives full of malice
Not good cheer for everyone
As Stephen Miller leads you by the nose
Bling of Rightwing-land knighted him
the Churl of Strutting Don
This is not the plan that the people chose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZxoffglmOs&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD
“Guitar: Robin Hood (Including lyrics and chords)”
I was on SNAP starting in 2017.
Before Covid I was getting $23 a month.
During Covid I was getting as much as $280 a month.
After Covid I was back to $23. I can live with that, but I can’t imagine what type of hit that was on others that are less fortunate than me..
Trumpflation Beater Special: Can’t pay Trump’s record high beef prices? Mention daddy’s name and get 47 cents/lb. off dog meat. Hit me up on my social.
–Kristi Noem
Kristi has Haitian suppliers in Springfield, OH.
You two are bad.
Well, a while back a contributor made a great pun regarding the old Nissan branding and suggesting that parts warehouses in that area could eat their ‘Datsun cogs’.
Showing myself out now…
We donate in both cash and produce to our local food bank. They have a great setup where the main food area looks like a grocery store, so people can pick out what they need. They also have a pay-what-you-can cafe out front along with a social services desk. We give them plums every year since we have two trees that typically produce ~50-100 lbs of fruit. There’s only so many plum products you can make before you start sounding like Forrest Gump (plum sauce, plum leather, plum scampi…). We give some to neighbors and a couple of big boxes to the food bank.
I don’t do most of the food shopping, and I haven’t heard of shortages here. As noted above, the cherry season sounds like it’s going to be brutal. Orchards were getting ~10% of the usual workforce showing up for the picking season.
I volunteer at a localish Black-owned farm. We harvested the garlic last weekend. Usually it is bought through grants by food banks. Not this year, no more grants. Guess it’s going to be sold at the Farmers Market. The weather was unseasonably hot and dry (a little early in the season.) Mt. Rainier (Tahoma) looked shockingly bare.
Egg prices seem to be going up still.
Almost everything else is also priced higher than last year. Lettuce, cabbage, carrots, bananas, citrus, etc.
Snacks like chips are way up in price for half (or less) size bags.
So if grocery prices are documentedly higher and trending upwards, how can the inflation numbers not reflect that?
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I saw beef cuts @ $30/lb. at Safeway in Oakland. Coffee beans seem to have gone way up. As Winterspring Summerfall mentioned, produce is going up rapidly. Getting harder and harder to make it through the month.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
BLS report: Trumpflation is UP.
Prices were LOWER under Biden. Daddy lied again.
“But autopen!”
Uh-huh.
He campaigned on lowering PRICES. Many times he said “I will lower PRICES.”
But prices are HIGHER. That’s what inflation means.
Fox was cherrypicking the CPI report for anything that was down (e.g., used cars), ignoring what was up (e.g., electricity).
Oz says we need to eat more fruits and vegetables; prices are up for those. Did Fox mention this? Of course not.
I still can’t find his eggs at “400% off” or gas at $1.98 a gallon.
I’ve debated starting a project here documenting prices of the top 10 items people buy in grocery stores each week, just to demonstrate prices have not gone down but grown worse since January, particularly those affected by tariffs.
I’ve noticed grocery prices about 50% higher since Covid here in NW Wyoming, though no shortages (lots of rich folks here). The autocrat megalomaniacs running things right now have given up on environmental concerns (the EARTH!) and given up on people deemed “expendable” (not multi-millionaires and billionaires). They believe wealth to be the only rubric that matters and they truly believe it will insulate them from the horrors we face. They may be the last ones to face hardships; that is, unless they face our pitchforks before things collapse. This is the truth about our current situation.
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I’d like to think that coffee tariffs/price increases would spark a national revolt and spell the death knell for this administration.
Probably wishful thinking.
It’s affecting alternatives’ pricing. I bought organic domestic chicory a few months ago to stretch my coffee; it’s jumped almost 40% in price since then, and it’s out of stock at some retailers.
Screwing with the nation’s caffeine supply is incredibly dangerous. You’d think a Diet Coke addict would understand this.
He may not know about that ingredient. Or that caffeine is addictive. (I have several months of teabags stashed.)