US Tariffs, Sigh!

[JamesLam]

America is the only country I've ever seen that associates prices of daily items with whoever was president at the time, as if the president has any say in the price of gas at the pumps, or the price of strawberries in the store. Most presidents are in office for 4-8 years, prices change a lot in that amount of time, it's not uncommon to have the cheapest gas and the most expensive gas under the same president, how do you explain that?

Oh, I think this is a whole nother thread.

Just a curiosity because I truly don't remember. When the price of eggs went up, did you see a shortage of eggs at your local grocery store?

I haven't measured them but our eggs look to be the same size.

 

[ikarasu]

Just a curiosity because I truly don't remember. When the price of eggs went up, did you see a shortage of eggs at your local grocery store?

(Edit) Cell phone fail. I thought you asked if I knew when they increased... I'll keep the reply as I modified it a bit to answer your real question!

Im in Canada so ours didn't go up. I saw them at a crazy high price when I was in USA though.... And of course it's all 90% of online forums / places talked about. Usually everyone goes to USA for dairy / eggs because it's close to 30-40% off our local prices.... But when I went down for a week trip it was almost double the cost. There were shortages in Washington at least, and I remember seeing videos of people buying as many eggs as they can the second they hit the floor. McDonald's didn't have them for breakfast either ... There was definatelly a shortage out west.


I don't know exactly when it happened - I'm fairly certain it was during Biden's admin though, because one of Trump's campaign promises was to lower egg prices and groceries the day he gets into office because egg prices were so high. He said the day after he's sworn into office they'd be cheaper. Then when he got into office another huge outbreak happened and they culled a lot of chickens and the price did another huge jump.

60 million chickens were culled in 3 months.... Of course the price of eggs and chicken will go up. And it doesn't matter if you're the president of the world, you can't prevent that.... For the most part.




I think because it was such a hot topic, RFK jr diesnt want to cull birds and wants to let it spread.... Which can have a much greater impact on the cost of eggs s d chicken, and allow the flu to mutate even more. Itd bring egg pricing down in the short term, but would be way more devastating in the long term.... More mutations means more spreading to humans and other animals. Bird flu is a crazy disease, and I don't think herd immunity is possible.

He went so far as to ask Canada not to cull 400 ostriches which we found the bird flu in.

So while it's not his fault, the constant jabbering and throwing it in his face likelly caused a dumb policy to be born, everything shouldn't end up being political... And I blame all the people crying about egg prices more than I do his administration!

 

[Gino]

A little bit ago, y'all were talking about going to the movies. When I was a kid, my mom gave me 35¢ for a whole day on a saturday to go the the movies. I could get in and see a double feature, cartoons, get a lotta candy, popcorn and a big coke for that. Then, walk home, with a nickel to buy a fountain coke along the way.

When I was about 15, I looked old enough to buy beer in a bar. A 6-pak of budweiser cost $1.20.

Is it inflation or just the normal rising of prices, but we just make it into a so-called science and use different terminology ?? Gasoline would go up a 10th of a cent at a time and that lasted til about 1973. All because we backed israel.... the arabs were paying us back. Why don't we do the same thing and put an embargo on all these countries, instead of a tariff ??

Maybe because we're scared ?? How 'bout non-efficient anymore. Is anyone trying to get ALL manufacturing back in this country so we can thumb our noses at everyone else ??

 

[Geneva Olson]

(Edit) Cell phone fail. I thought you asked if I knew when they increased... I'll keep the reply as I modified it a bit to answer your real question!

Im in Canada so ours didn't go up. I saw them at a crazy high price when I was in USA though.... And of course it's all 90% of online forums / places talked about. Usually everyone goes to USA for dairy / eggs because it's close to 30-40% off our local prices.... But when I went down for a week trip it was almost double the cost. There were shortages in Washington at least, and I remember seeing videos of people buying as many eggs as they can the second they hit the floor. McDonald's didn't have them for breakfast either ... There was definatelly a shortage out west.


I don't know exactly when it happened - I'm fairly certain it was during Biden's admin though, because one of Trump's campaign promises was to lower egg prices and groceries the day he gets into office because egg prices were so high. He said the day after he's sworn into office they'd be cheaper. Then when he got into office another huge outbreak happened and they culled a lot of chickens and the price did another huge jump.

60 million chickens were culled in 3 months.... Of course the price of eggs and chicken will go up. And it doesn't matter if you're the president of the world, you can't prevent that.... For the most part.




I think because it was such a hot topic, RFK jr diesnt want to cull birds and wants to let it spread.... Which can have a much greater impact on the cost of eggs s d chicken, and allow the flu to mutate even more. Itd bring egg pricing down in the short term, but would be way more devastating in the long term.... More mutations means more spreading to humans and other animals. Bird flu is a crazy disease, and I don't think herd immunity is possible.

He went so far as to ask Canada not to cull 400 ostriches which we found the bird flu in.

So while it's not his fault, the constant jabbering and throwing it in his face likelly caused a dumb policy to be born, everything shouldn't end up being political... And I blame all the people crying about egg prices more than I do his administration!

But do you remember walking into the store and seeing a shortage of eggs?

 

[Gino]

Up until last summer, a neighbor down the road had 150 laying chickens and 75 meat chickens. A dozen of about a large egg size was $1. and the yolks were so dark orange, I couldn't believe it.

There are so many plain dutchie farms within a short distance. I could get eggs almost anywhere for a lot less than you guys are talking about. Even cheaper at our farmers markets..... not to mention all the other stuff they sell.

 

[ikarasu]

But do you remember walking into the store and seeing a shortage of eggs?

In Washington yes, not at home in Canada.
A quick Google search says eggs are still super high in Washington right now as well as there is a shortage.... But it's artificial due to people panic buying.

But yes, when this hit the peak and we were in USA for a week, most of the grocery stores had zero eggs... The moment they get a shipment in, it was bought out - but the store shelves were empty except on delivery day where they were full for about an hour before they sold out.

Surging egg prices prompt new shopping habits, menu changes in Seattle area

Geraldine's Counter has been forced to add a 75-cent surcharge on all egg dishes after seeing wholesale egg costs double over the last year.

www.king5.com

 

[ikarasu]

Up until last summer, a neighbor down the road had 150 laying chickens and 75 meat chickens. A dozen of about a large egg size was $1. and the yolks were so dark orange, I couldn't believe it.

There are so many plain dutchie farms within a short distance. I could get eggs almost anywhere for a lot less than you guys are talking about. Even cheaper at our farmers markets..... not to mention all the other stuff they sell.

I remember when I was a kid, I lived in a city with a ton of farms around - They all had stands and everyone was super friendly. Farmers markets were great, and actual farmers brought their food to them - You could buy a dozen corn on the cob for $2, when stores sold it for 75 cents to a buck each... Big bags of cherries for $2 vs 6, farmers selling direct to consumer netted them more money, the food was much fresher, and the consumer paid significantly less.

Now farmers markets are filled with people selling baked cookies, gluten free pies, pretty much anything home baked - We still have some stands here...and I usually buy from them, but now the trend is that because it's so fresh... it costs more than the grocery stores. Theres 1 farm I pass by on the way to work, and their pricing is comparable, sometimes more, sometimes less than grocery stores, and food is really good... so I usually get a weeks worth of veggies and fruits from them. My co-worker has a mini farm where he just raises chickens... has like 30-40 chickens and he sells a dozen eggs for $2. (It's about 5 in the store). He mainly does it so he can claim his land as agriculture and get a tax break, He said the money he makes barely covers the feed for the chickens, my guess is because it's on such a low scale that the cost is 5x higher than on a larger scale... But the eggs are 100X better than store bought eggs.

Nothing beats farm fresh... Plus I'd rather support the local guy than the grocery chain raking in millions every month. I'm betting in another 10 years, we wont be able to buy local though - All the farms around here are getting bought up and turned into condos, it sucks.

 

[Stacey K]

sorry, my point in that last post was that if you feel you have to change you behavior due to economic pressure - whether or not the end result is actually better - then that helps bolster the point that there is inflation and higher prices.

(WWII POWs in Japanese camps were fed "dirty" rice because it was low class and the white rice was saved for the Japanese - but the end result is that the prisoners had better nutrition because the vitamins in the hull of the rice... the motive to give brown rice was evil, even if the result was good.)

I've been doing this for 23 years. Has ZERO to do with inflation - it's because my husband and I wanted me home with the kids. Two incomes to one, you need to make adjustments. And they stuck because I saw how much money we were pissing away!

Yes - there IS INFLATION - it comes and it goes. If a person can't afford to eat because of inflation there's more going on than just inflation. I have pretty much zero sympathy for people who complain about not having enough money. 9/10 it's how they spend it, has little to do with inflation.

 

[Geneva Olson]

I was reminded this weekend by Karoline Leavitt in one of her press briefings that the tariffs are intended to replace income tax.

 

[Geneva Olson]

In Washington yes, not at home in Canada.
A quick Google search says eggs are still super high in Washington right now as well as there is a shortage.... But it's artificial due to people panic buying.

But yes, when this hit the peak and we were in USA for a week, most of the grocery stores had zero eggs... The moment they get a shipment in, it was bought out - but the store shelves were empty except on delivery day where they were full for about an hour before they sold out.

Surging egg prices prompt new shopping habits, menu changes in Seattle area

Geraldine's Counter has been forced to add a 75-cent surcharge on all egg dishes after seeing wholesale egg costs double over the last year.

www.king5.com

I guess I didn't notice because HEB (Texas grocery store chain) was still supplying eggs. They also sell a lot of local brands, so perhaps we just saw the price increase and a less of their big egg suppliers.