Both candidates have been asked questions what they would do about the rising cost of food. Let’s discuss their answers. 
Food Costs Too Much
Please consider the Miami Herald article Donald Trump and Kamala Harris Both Say Food Costs Too Much.
Harris vows to curb what she called grocery price gouging. Trump says that he’ll lower energy costs and prices overall, which in turn will mean less expensive food
Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has vowed to fight food price inflation partly by tackling what she calls grocery price gouging.
“As president, I will take on the high costs that matter most to most Americans, like the cost of food,” she told a rally in North Carolina recently. In her economic proposal, unveiled last month, she said she would “advance the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries.” Harris said she direct her administration “to crack down on unfair mergers and acquisitions that give big food corporations the power to jack up food and grocery prices and undermine the competition that allows all businesses to thrive while keeping prices low for consumers.”
“There is little evidence of price gouging. Reported net profits by food companies over the past couple of years show no evidence that profits are higher than average over the last decade,” said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the nonpartisan International Food Research Institute.
“Likewise,” he said, “It is unlikely that reducing the cost of energy by itself would have a significant impact on the cost of food.”
Tuesday night at a town hall in Michigan, a participant asked Trump how he would stabilize food prices. “We have to start always with energy,” he told the group. “There’s no bigger subject. It covers everything.” He said his goal is to get energy bills down 50% in a year.
Michigan Mother Asks Trump About How He Would Lower Costs
Trump claims he would lower energy prices by 50 percent. Fools cheered because that is what they want to hear.
Trump also blamed imports. That is preposterous. Reducing imports would raise prices.
And if Trump deports migrant crop pickers, prices will skyrocket.
A Perfect Response Thanks to Reagan
The perfect response to the question Trump was asked has already been given.
Flashback August 12, 1986: Ronald Reagan’s Press Conference
As you know and have been told, I do have a short statement here. Before we begin, I thought I’d mention that one reason for our visit to Illinois, especially this morning at the State fair, was to bring a special message to America’s farmers, one of concern and hope. Amid general prosperity that has brought record employment, rising incomes, and the lowest inflation in more than 20 years, some sectors of our farm economy are hurting, and their anguish is a concern to all Americans.
I think you all know that I’ve always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help. A great many of the current problems on the farm were caused by government-imposed embargoes and inflation, not to mention government’s long history of conflicting and haphazard policies.
The second paragraph above would have been a great start to a reply by Trump to the question on food prices.
Trump could have continued with: Egg prices soared because of avian flu. Government can’t control that. Nor can government control wheat harvests in Ukraine, or soybean and sugar harvests in Brazil.
When you ask Congress or the President to fix problems they have no control over, you are asking for bigger problems. And that is just what Kamala Harris will deliver with her price gouging and price controls.
Demanding grocery stores prove they are not price gouging will add another layer of regulation that is guaranteed to raise prices. History shows that wage and price controls don’t work.
Harris is proposing more proven failures.
What will I do? I will get out of the way. I will let farmers farm, and I will let grocery stores sell. And I will reduce regulations that place unnecessary burdens on farmers and stores. Competition and reduced regulation are the best answer, not price controls.
Most of all, we need to be honest about what government can and can’t do. I won’t make promises that I can’t keep. Harris will.
Reflections on Trump’s Answer
Trump was not prepared for the question despite its obvious nature. Nor was Trump prepared for the debate.
If you are honest about things, you will note that Trump is never prepared for anything.
Trump believes he can think on his feet but proves time and time again that he can’t.
Worse yet, he doesn’t prepare. And when you are unprepared and can’t think on your feet, you resort to playground name calling and make silly statements like Trump did in the video above.
Harris Declines to Comment on Her Changing EV Position (Everything Else Too)
On September 21, I noted Harris Declines to Comment on Her Changing EV Position (Everything Else Too)
Harris is in hiding. She cannot think on her feet either. However, Harris has one huge advantage over Trump: Harris listens to her advisors, and they are wisely telling her to shut up.
Her strategy of not saying anything and declining interviews shows discipline and a willingness to stick to a plan. She baited Trump in the debate then smiled as he blew up.
Why say anything if your opponent keeps putting his foot in his mouth?
In the case of food. Harris offered Trump a rare fat pitch.
Trump swung and missed with a preposterous statement that he would reduce energy costs by 50 percent, something that no one can possibly believe.
Pathetic.
For many farm products we do not have a “free market”. Government is involved in a variety of ways, typically to keep farmers in business and on the farm despite too-low prices for what they produce. This results in distortions and higher prices.
Example: corn fructose is such a big part of our food supply because government interferes in the sugar market to keep sugar prices high. If not for that the price of sugar would be low enough to put corn fructose makers out of business. An additional side effect is that many candy-makers are located outside of America where sugar prices are cheaper.
My sentiment on the topic is tempered by (mostly-leftwing) arguments that we pay too little for food, and should pay more, with a socialist side of offering better prices to the impoverished.
“Nor can government control wheat harvests in Ukraine,”
When the harvests are low specifically because of a war that “government” wastes billions to keep going, they sure can….
The government could use ethanol policy adjustments to influence corn prices. About half of corn goes into gas tanks. Reduce the ethanol blend a little to reduce corn prices when needed.
Some other crop prices can be stabilized through strategic product reserves just like the SPR.
Farm inputs are also controlled by government agencies. Most electricity for irrigation is provided by federal power companies. Fertilizer prices are influenced by carbon regulations and gas prices. The amount of land available to farm is influenced by federal conservation easement payment programs.
There’s dozens of dials that can tune existing programs to stabilize food prices. Going after stores and manufacturers is probably not a high priority.
Think we just need to tweak them some more, hey? Wrong, the dials don’t work. If we learn one thing from decades of government meddling in the markets, it’s that it doesn’t work.
There is no problem with supply. I can walk into any grocery story and there is mounds of food of every type. The problem is not supply, nor demand. It is price.
Drill baby drill to reduce costs is ridiculous and shows Trump doesn’t understand economics. If drilling floods the market with oil, oil prices will breach the lowest price needed to fund exploration. At roughly 50 dollars a barrel oil costs more to harvest than the return per barrel. Drill baby drill sounds good but its nonsense
No it’s you that doesn’t understand economics. If Trump removes government impediments to the oil industry, the market will naturally settle to the lowest price possible while still being profitable for companies that can effectively compete. Whether that is roughly 50 dollars a barrel or lower will be determined.
Melvin is correct. The average cost to produce oil in US shale basins is currently $54. This cost has little to nothing to do with regulations. So reducing regulations is meaningless.
The average breakeven cost for new wells in the Permian is $62. At a WTI current price of $68, there is less incentive to drill than when WTI is $80. This will not change because Trump says “drill baby drill”.
The person who does not understand economics is Bayleaf.
“This cost has little to nothing to do with regulations.”
Lol
Yep. If the cost of regulation was material, it would show up in oil company financial statements. But it doesn’t.
How about you produce some “cost of regulation” numbers from us shale companies. I would like to see them.
Corp profit doubled or tripled between 2020 and 2024. Consumers addicted to fructose and salt will pay any price supermarkets will charge them. The transportation and warehousing industries profit jumped X7 times in 4 years !
This should be the real discussion! Eggs, bacon producer costs go up 50%, labor goes down 50%, grocery prices go up 300%, and EBITA goes up 120%
How about international shipping? Fuel goes down, pricing goes through the roof with profits – all before it hits the stores here.
The days of low oil are almost over. Fresh produce coming east from CA shipped in refrigerated trucks cost about $3/mile x 3,000 miles = $9,000/truck. From OR or AZ : $7,000/truck. From FL : $5,000/truck. European countries are small. The distance from Poland to Germany is a few hundreds miles. England is 350 X 350 miles. Ukraine deflated food prices.
Listening to Dr Faust and other high IQ savants was a mistake. The boardroom days are over. The Apprentice matured. Kamala is a rookie, a marionette. Her husband is the brain. Douglas Emhoff will run the US.
Kamala won’t win
“ The days of low oil are almost over.”
A meaningless statement. Please elaborate.
They’ve arguably been over since the Early 2000s…..
Ever since the stable $18-$30 or so OPEC sorta defended was breached, it has been both higher in absolute terms, and much more volatile, which add it’s own costs.
US shale has definitely helped keep a lid on it, but prices hasn’t been kind to infrastructure built in in the cheap oil era for a long time already. Ever increasing Chinese/Asian demand, will ensure another blowout, in not too long. There’s tight oil elsewhere as well, but it will now likely take quite a price hike before the powers that be get to the usual “but it’s diiiiferent thiiiis time” moment, wrt fossil fuels.
Higher oil prices will certainly help my portfolio. But I’m not so stupid to think that oil prices are going to zoom up anytime soon. One of the reasons that oil dropped from $83 to $68 recently was because of expected “lower” demand from China.
too many variables….is oil really going UP or is the dollar going down???
Don’t care.
And the oil price has been trending down for the last two years. Not up.
Kamala mentioned grocery price controls last week. This week local food prices jumped up ahead of the controls.
Price controls means shortages. I’m sure people without food will be a big winner for cackling Kamala.
I’m astonished to read in what I expected to be a thoughtful article, that energy costs are more or less irrelevant to the cost of anything. Especially, the cost of food which is one of the most energy intensive industries in America. In fact, food prices are so low in America because it is so energy intensive.
As the cost of the various energy inputs (supplies, operation, delivery) increase so will the cost of the output. I don’t see how anyone can say otherwise.
The energy input cost as part of the over all food price has to be much lower than you imagine.
If you look at food costs in other countries (Canada, Europe) etc they aren’t markedly more expensive than here in the US even though energy costs in those countries are double or even triple what they are here.
Let me be perfectly clear…. Silence
vs
What a nasty caclklng woman.
American politics 2024
Trump & Harris are certainly two of the worst candidate choices that the American people have had to select from, at least in recent history.
As I keep repeating, Harris ONLY advantage is that she isn’t Trump.
This is the best that we can hope for, that Harris, once elected, retreats to whatever she occupied her time with as unseen VP for 3.5 years and lets her advisors make the actual decisions.
Trump can still save the day. He can walk away. Announced that he is withdrawing and let the Republicans appoint someone else to stand in his place.
I agree that Harris is smart enough to listen to her campaign advisors. And Trump’s advisors either aren’t telling him to bone up on details and/or he isn’t smart enough to listen to them. I come down on the other side of which of the candidates is less bad. If we apply a stupid tariff, it can be undone. If some overly “green” regulation is imposed, it will fail once it bumps into reality. If we don’t at least try to dislodge the foreign policy complex that aims to force the entire world to submit to the US, we’ll eventually bring about nuclear war. The US has been trying to regime change Hungary, Georgia and Kazakhstan. They just succeeded in Bangladesh. They’re trying in Thailand and Myanmar. Trump and Harris will both supplicate the US to Israel, but on the other major areas of potential conflict – the Ukraine, Taiwan – Trump’s instincts are better. He knowsTaiwan and Ukraine are not our fight and we don’t have the ability to maintain the world as Pompeo and Graham want.
I think Harris cares more about “equity” and gender issues. I think she would let the CIA and State Department continue to try to rule the world (making enemies everywhere). Maybe I’m wrong, but I hope to not have to find out.
Problem is she won’t go away in 4 years as she’ll want a 2nd term as all presidents do (even Biden wanted a 2nd term).
If you think both candidates are the worst choice ever then the best thing that can happen is Trump winning because in 4 years is means fresh candidates for both parties. That’s Trumps biggest advantage, that he’ll be gone in 4 years.
Best reason yet.
“..because in 4 years is means fresh candidates for both parties”
And those candidates will, as in all election cycles since Jefferson, be even worse than the ones prior, including the two current wastes.
That’s what decay means in practice.
Did you miss the part about Trump wanting to be a dictator and not having to worry about elections? If Trump gets in office, he will have an army to help keep in “office” until he dies.
Dictator? You confuse with your pastime or DikTaker
OH my, Mish actually criticized a democrat, did hell just freeze over?
Clearly you are insane
Or a new reader or both
Bringing energy costs down is the most effective solution. Reliance of foreign imports for all our food (the trajectory we’re on) is not a viable long term solution. So Trump is correct on both counts. Harris is just a communist idiot.
The price of energy is important in everything; including food prices.
And right now, energy is already cheap. And it’s been dropping for the last two years.
In 2022, the average WTI price was $95. In 2023, it was $77. Today the price is $68.
In 2022, the average natural gas price was $6.45. In 2023, the average was $2.53. Today the price is $2.90.
You can do the same for diesel and gasoline prices. Dropping for two years.
The declining price of energy is one of the reasons that inflation has been dropping for the last two years.
Well, sure but CA Governor Newsom has been spectacularly unsuccessful in reducing energy costs here. Our gas prices remain $1.50 higher than most of the rest of the USA and our electric prices are near the most expensive in the country (I think HI might be higher).
We need fusion power to become a reality in order to hope for any change in energy prices. The government should be putting a magnitude more money into fusion that it is now.
Forget fusion. Not happening in your lifetime. Though we are spending over $6 billion a year trying to get there.
Same for fission. No new nuclear plants planned in the US going forward.
Gasoline and diesel prices are headed lower (other than for taxes on them) because demand is dropping. You can thank EVs, PHEVs, which are causing a decline in gasoline demand. And CNG trucks are reducing diesel demand.
I read they are planning to re-open 3 mile island.
I suspect we’ll be getting a lot of nuclear in the coming decades for the simple reason that AI requires massive amounts of power and only nuclear is capable of doing that right now so expect lots of smaller reactors.
Yep. They are planning on re-furbishing “one old” reactor unit at 3 mile Island by 2028 in a deal with Microsoft, who wants “clean” power for their data centres and AI.
And of course, Vogtle Unit 4 came on line in April this year. The first “new” nuclear reactor in the US since Watts Bar Unit 2 in 2016.
You have to go back to 1997 for the previous “new” reactor.
Next to be built? Nothing. Nada. No plans. No hints of a plan. Or as Trump would say; he has a “concept” of a plan.
And even if there was a plan right now, it would take 15 years to come online.
Which means renewables or natural gas will have to supply this rapidly growing demand for electricity. The costs for each are the same. But natural gas plants can be built faster, and they don’t suffer the same degree of intermittency that renewable+storage do. So expect a lot of natural gas plants to be built over the next decade.
Higher energy costs in CA are a feature, not a bug. Electricity is 45 cents a KwH in San Jose, 17 cents here in Minneapolis. It’s mostly taxes. To PapaDave: EV ‘s don’t save money if electricity is expensive. JoJo has the right instinct: we need cheap electricity. We don’t get that from windmills and solar – not at scale. Fusion would be nice, but in the meantime, liquid salt thorium reactors will do. We have enough thorium to last for centuries. Far safer than current reactors.
It’s not about whether EVs save money for the owner. I don’t care about that. It’s about increasing numbers of EVs and PHEVs reducing demand for gasoline. Which will help keep gasoline prices low.
Regarding thorium reactors:
https://interestingengineering.com/energy/us-nrc-permit-first-advanced-liquid-salt-fueled-nuclear-reactor
First permit in 30 years for a “research” facility. They intend to put their “plan” forward in 2025.
No word on when this research facility will actually be constructed or completed. Maybe 2030 if you are an optimist. And it’s for research.
But the demand for more power is TODAY. Like right now! Where is it? We need it! Now!
More solar. More wind. More natural gas. Now!
“But the demand for more power is TODAY. Like right now! Where is it? We need it! Now!
More solar. More wind. More natural gas. Now!”
The demand is not actually there. Not at prices making solar, wind nor even massive-scale natural gas viable.
Like Mish points out: There will always be unlimited demand for free stuff. All kinds of cool sounding stuff for the powerpoint idiots to “invest in”, if only Trump would give them free electricity. But at realistic costs, there’s not that much in the way of increased sustainable energy demand in the US.
In Asia there still is. Which will feed back into the US as increased costs. But in the US, the low hanging fruit is more efficient utilization of what energy is already consumed. Until Americans are using each watt as efficiently as the Asians, hence getting as much value out of each watt, they can not afford to bid what the more efficient Asians can bid for energy. Rectifying that, is somewhere roughly around infinitely more realistic, than Santa Clausian weirdo schemes of both the “AI” and “hippie reactor”/thorium-salt kind.
The demand is definitely there. Demand is growing by 4.7% per year. This is double what was predicted in 2022. And it’s because of data centers, AI, EVs and crypto.
In 2024 we will be adding 63 GW of new capacity. And we need even more next year.
For reference, when the 3 mile island unit comes back online in 2028, it will generate 0.8 GW.
Fusion would be nice, but fission shouldn’t be ignored in the meantime. New model fission reactors are smaller, safer and cleaner. And if AI is in our future, they will be a certainty.
A certainty? Maybe in 20 years. But we can’t be waiting 20 years. We need the power now. So it will have to be renewable and natural gas.
A country solo commuting 50 miles each way in V8 pickups, hauling even bulk goods by trucks traveling at 90MPH, living in entirely uninsulated 6000 sqft McMansions in Phoenix, AZ; while dedicating itself to establishing hourly airbridges to roughly one military installation somewhere around the world for each and every working age American; does not “need” more power…
Sure: More power is nicer than less power. But when Toyota can build 35 additional Corollas and sell them at thousands in profit each, for the same energy that a single American uses to commute for a month, it’s not rocket science to figure out who can ultimately afford to sustainably bid the highest for it.
What Americans “need” “now”, is to utilize whatever power they have available more efficiently. Right now, they are sitting ducks, first in line to be outbid for not only any possible additional power coming online but, more ominously, even existing power supply that they have so far gotten away with taking for granted.
Lol! What a load of garbage! No one cares what YOU think the country needs.
People just want the lights to turn on when they flip the switch. And the demand for that electricity keeps going up by 4.7% per year. Why is that so hard for you to understand?
You think it’ll take them twenty years to build a new fission reactor? Perhaps under the Biden administration.
Yep. Under any administration.
Vogtle unit 4 came online this year. It took 15 years to build.
Currently there are no plans to build a new nuclear reactor anywhere in the US. Perhaps someone will decide to try again in the next 5 years. Then take 15 years to build it. Of course, it could be even longer.
As of September 2024, there are no new large-scale fission reactors currently under construction in the United States, but one reactor recently entered commercial operation and another is nearing completion:
## Recent and Upcoming Reactor Completions
1. Vogtle Unit 3 in Georgia entered commercial operation in July 2023[2][4]. This was the first new nuclear reactor to start up in the United States since 2016.
2. Vogtle Unit 4, also in Georgia, is expected to begin commercial operation in the first quarter of 2024[1][4]. Once operational, it will provide over 1,100 megawatts of clean power to the grid.
## Future Prospects
While no other large-scale reactors are currently under construction, there are some developments to watch:
1. Advanced Reactor Projects: Three advanced reactor developers are working with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to potentially submit construction permit applications before the end of 2024[1]. These include:
– TerraPower’s sodium-cooled fast reactor in Wyoming
– X-energy’s high-temperature gas reactor plant in Texas
– Tennessee Valley Authority’s potential deployment of a GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor in Tennessee
2. Shift in Focus: The nuclear industry in the U.S. has shifted its focus towards smaller reactor designs, partly due to the cost overruns and delays experienced with larger projects like Plant Vogtle[3].
3. Government Support: Recent legislation, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, supports U.S. nuclear energy as part of a clean energy, zero-carbon generating portfolio[2].
It’s worth noting that the completion of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 marks a significant milestone, as they are likely to be the last large-scale nuclear reactors built in the U.S. for the foreseeable future[7]. The industry’s future seems to be oriented more towards advanced and small modular reactor designs.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/are-any-fisson-reactors-being-tft4PCYjSHayik6xXKffyg#0
On EVs, I don’t understand why both Trump and Harris want to protect Elon Musk’s second-rate EVs against foreign competition. Why are his billions of wealth, while ordinary Americans have to pay ridiculous prices for EVs?
Harris wants to end the automobile industry in the US. Just ask any of them how they are faring with her EV mandates. Trump’s aim is the complete opposite, imposing tariffs on foreign imports to bolster US production and ending all EV mandates.
As for Musk, the Harris administration has been after him since he took over Twitter. She’s not protecting anything of his.
It’s not about protecting Elon. God knows libs like Harris have a deep and abiding hatred for him because he dialed down the censorship at Twitter. It’s plain old protectionism. Protecting jobs in America. All countries engage in it. All of them. It’s a question of whether you want to be some kind of libertardian AynRand economic purist or take care of the workers of your nation.
Tariffs reduces greedy stevedores absolute power to create shortages, hurt Xmas sales and under the table envelops. Many stevedores are mom & pop landlords.
Mish, have a look at measure 118 on the Oregon ballot this fall. Unbridled democracy in action.
This an election where I come to read Mish’s comments and in essence he is suggesting that BOTH candidates CANNOT THINK (on their feet, but they cannot think and it matters not whether it is done extemporaneously – – or not!
The better way to say it is we are DUMBED DOWN. READ REAGAN’S words – – likely in part thought up by HIS handlers – – but clearly America has become DUMBED/STUPID-ED down compared to that past Presidency.
We are NOW at the CIRCUS CARNIVAL level, which means it is messaging FOR a CHILD’s MENTALITY by those with CHILD BRAINS.
A teenager could come up with better ideas than these two Nincompoops!
I AM EMBARRASSED by our Country’s SIMPLETONS.
It’s been a circus carnival long before Trump and Harris. But the choice is simple. Cognitive abilities of the candidates aside, a vote for Trump is a vote for change, while a vote Harris is a vote for more of the same.
Q: Who thinks it’s fine that the US has sanctions on 1/3 of the world? Who thinks the US has a divine right to judge every government in the world and overthrow those we label non-compliant with our own “rules based order”?
A: Harris, Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Pompeo, Lindsay Graham and 95% of the permanent state in Washington.
Q: Who thinks the US is not omnipotent and should try to get along with other countries – even unsavory ones?
A: Trump, Thomas Massie and JD Vance maybe sorta.
This is why I don’t get all bent out of shape like Mish about some stupid tariff. It’s trivial. The other major issue is censorship. When Tim Walz says the First Amendment doesn’t apply to “misinformation”, that’s some serious totalitarian shit.
Agreed and I am also embarrassed for you given the poor quality posts that you insist on making here repeatedly.
Lololol
The food inflation is rising at a turtle speed. Ports strike might create shortages The large chain stores prepared inventory for Xmas sales. Exogenous events might deflate the CPI. Nasrallah didn’t cut his losses. Iran might, preempting Trump.
I warned people about insurance rates a few years ago and here we are.
I warned people about food shortages and price inflation and here we are.
I warn people now about electricity shortages and that will come soon. (hint: buy utilities).
But it’s not just the port strike that will empty shelves. Longer term, it will be the labor shortage across the entire food supply chain coming in 2030.
Not enough farm hands, not enough truckers, not enough warehouse/distribution workers, not enough retail workers for the last mile. Block immigrants and the problem accelerates much faster.
It’s all primarily demographics and that other thing called “climate hoax” that will cause massive inflation. 80 million boomers will be lounging around collecting $150B/month demanding goods and services from the other 140m having to cough up money for those boomers via FICA taxes.
And no, neither Trump, Harris, democrats or republicans are going to be able to do anything to fix this mess. It’s too late. I’m still waiting for those robots and self driving trucks but I suspect we’ll get “truck pirates” from organized gangs before any of that works.
The best way to protect is to stock up on dry goods, buy food company stocks, I believe I recommended TSN back when it was in the dumps, not so much now.
There is more “stuff” coming but I need to position for profit first then I’ll tell you. Just finishing up some research on another hot topic and looking to find the right money train.
Labor won’t be an issue as most will be replaced by robots. As more vertical farms come online, it will easier to deploy robots to pick produce. Distribution will be easier and more efficient from single grow points like these farms.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
And how long does it take to get a vertical farm up and running? Who constructs these because they will require the same missing labor that we don’t have now.
The issue here is timing, we’ve wasted time arguing about stupid nonsense in politics instead of planning for the silver tsunami now hitting. It’s like the tidal wave is about to hit and people are suddenly thinking about solving the problem.
With 2024 almost gone, 2030 is now just 5 years away or 1 election cycle if you prefer to think about it in these terms. What has any president/congress accomplished in 4 years?
September is almost over, 10,000 x 30 = 300,000 people dropped off the labor force and the few young people coming in to back fill don’t want to work. Now would be a great time to see all those robots everyone has been talking about for 50 years to spring into action.
Check back in with me in 5 years and we’ll see how things are going.
Epic robot spike coming in 2025! Human unemployment goes exponential.
MPO,
I’m fine with most of the immigrants. They need to come in legally. If current laws are too restrictive, they can be changed. You know, democracy and all.
Everyone says that and we’ve been waiting since Regan did the first amnesty in 80s to fix the current immigration laws. It takes 10+ years to get a green card if you go the legal route. I helped sponsor a brilliant engineering person from Chile that took 12 years to get their green card. 12 years! And their kids were all born in the U.S. too but that didn’t make it faster.
I suspect it doesn’t get fixed because America has always needed “slave wage” laborers that get paid under the table and avoid FICA. If every “illegal” were made legal. businesses would have to pay the same wages, benefits, and protections (FICA, unemployment, etc) of regular citizens – that would cut deeply into profits and prices would rise.
So there is a wink and a nod on this game of “fixing” the problem with “walls” or “mass deportation” but then nothing happens but some token circus for news sound bites then it’s back to business as usual.
It’s also a great way for politicians to raise money, just send trump or harris some money and they’ll “fix” the problem for you….
It seems to be too difficult to change anything in DC for the better these days.
Trump’s numbers are the usual horseshit, but he has a damn good point about energy costs. They are a huge food cost input. Reduce energy prices, and we will see deflation in food prices.
Nope. Energy prices are already low. Not much room for them to drop any further. After Russia invaded Ukraine, oil shot up to $120 and natural gas to $9.50. Oil is back down to $68 and natural gas is $2.90 now.
You’re both right.
Well here is a simple question.
How did shutting down energy production, shutting down Keystone pipeline, and pushing all those EV mandates work out for Biden Harris team Green new deal?
Oh not so well huh!,
I do know this, when winter kicks in and people have to pay to heat the house they reside in, if energy costs are substantially lower, there is going to be more money left over for food.
Anyone think people would notice that their overall cost of Living goes down with lower energy costs.? Hey here is a thought people would notice that and give a thumbs up to the person who got that ball rolling.
Nope. That’s simply wrong.
The US is currently producing record amounts of oil and natural gas. We are the world’s number one energy producer. Where have you been the last 3 years? Production went up every year.
What will cure you of nonsense is go dig a hole in your backyard assuming you have one. Make it ten feet deep 10 feet wide by 10 feet long. Do that by hand with pick and shovel and cart your dig by hand with wheelbarrow.
That exploit will influence how you choose to dig the next hole.
May even consider using ICE power to run the hydraulics on a machine that has a bucket.
Biden Harris are directly responsible for what is occurring in this country now.
Dams are on verge of failure cause they were built as part of the new deal from Roosevelt. This country has not done anything for so long to fix its own infrastructure which makes modern life possible.
But Biden Harris can come up with funds to blow up other parts of the world and then make refugees of many peoples. Shipping them here and paying for it with Debt issuance.
But where are the funds to Fix America? Nowhere to be found in Government.
Reversing the industrial revolution means poverty for vast amounts of people.
If you wanted to prove me wrong, maybe you could have produced some figures to show that US oil production has gone down under Biden. Of course, because production has gone up, up, up; you couldn’t find any figures to show otherwise. So instead you talked about digging holes in my backyard? Lol!
Let me show you the numbers:
Looking back at Feb 2021, the first full month of Biden’s presidency, US production was 9.9 mbpd. Today it is 13.3 mbpd.
Biden upon entry swore he was going to shut down fossil fuels.
When he discovered that policy helping to wreck the economy he shifted.
They still want to de-industrialize the US for the green agenda.
Everyone who reads this blog knows what I write here is True.
Now if you can not keep your facts straight it is not my problem but yours trying to rewrite Biden Harris administration fiasco after fiasco..
Lol! That just shows you are stupid enough to listen to what politicians say; rather than what they do.
And you certainly don’t write what’s true. You write whatever comes out of your ass that moment.
I showed you the truth. Actual production numbers.
What do you show? F*ck all.
If you want to write what’s true, show me some production numbers that back up your claims. But you won’t. Because they don’t exist. And that’s the truth.
I’m sure Trump is suitable for some govt. job – just not POTUS.
I recall him saying that he liked to “Grab Potus.”
OH, it was PUSSY. SORRY, my bad.
None of the other government jobs is open for convicted felons.
Ha ha! Just the job of President!
You’re absolutely right, Flavia. Considering that an intrinsic part of being president – at least in the last 60 years – is instigating unnecessary wars, Trump is just not up to the job.
Probably your finest post for September. It sounds like you’re saying neither Trump nor Harris will save anyone from high grocery prices.
Gee, I wonder what the alternative might be?
The solution for high grocery prices is high grocery prices.
Isn’t that ECON 101? Just askin’ for a friend.
I think the alternative is to stop relying on lying politicians and do things for yourself. Here are my suggestions:
I don’t really care about anyone paying $9 for eggs at Whole Foods.
Disclosure: I go to Aldi and (occasionally) Whole Foods and the farmers market when it’s in season.
Semaglutide will reduce your appetite!
Trump should have said ‘MAGA also stands for Make Affordable Groceries Again and we are going to do that’.
Then if he’d just shut up after that he’d have been a winner on this question because who doesn’t want to be a part of that MAGA movement.
He isn’t wrong about energy mattering as part of food costs but the idea of lowering bills by 50% isn’t going to come close to happen and even if it did, groceries wouldn’t drop by a corresponding 50%.
Also, although Mish is right about what Trump should have said, history has proven that the public just wants quick sound bites that can be memes rather than long answers that are complex to parse. That’s why ‘Make America Great Again’, ‘Crooked Hillary’, ‘Lying Ted’, ‘Lock Her Up’, ‘build a wall and have Mexico pay for it’ etc were perfect sound bites that encapsulated ideas even if they gave no details or aren’t realistic. It’s why I think if he’d have gone with my answer he’d have been golden.
Lol! Trump doesn’t care about food prices. If he was, he could be working with suppliers to hawk an entire line of low cost Trump food products emblazoned with his image. But he won’t because food is a low profit business.
Instead he hawks high profit margin items like, Trump hats, Trump coins, Trump trading cards, Trump sneakers, Trump bibles, Trump watches (some priced at $100k)
The only food he sold was Trump steaks. And they sure weren’t cheap.
The steaks were USDA Angus certified and came in four packages with prices ranging from $199 (with two bone-in rib-eyes, two filet mignons and 12 burgers), $349, $499, and $999, with the tagline of “The World’s Greatest Steaks.”
Trumps whole business motto has always been high end. It’s why he’s always bought choice properties or attached his name to expensive items as you noted. He’s trying to associate his name with high status. So yeah, he’d never get into the low end grocery market.
There’s a legitimate market for status even if neither you nor I care much for it (witness countless women dropping 1000 or more for a Louis Vuitton handbag that’s not markedly different than a 50 dollar one).
I was going to order a Trump Bible for my atheist, Trump-hating, liberal buddy. No one better exemplifies the Christian faith than Donald J Trump. Seriously, I don’t understand how anyone can see his craven commercialism and not find it hilarious and endearing. As Bill Burr said “he’s the greatest shit-talker ever”.
Yep. It’s a cult. And his followers will support him till they go broke or die for him. Gotta give him credit for achieving that.
As if being the first of the lemmings to go over the cliff, is somehow deserving of any “credit”..
In the #DymbAge, Dumb follows Dumber. Who again follows Dumbest. That’s it. It really is all just Dumb. All the way up.