Pizza and beer now cost an arm and a leg

If you’re looking for a sure sign the U.S. economy is headed in the wrong direction, all you need to do is look at the skyrocketing price of “recession-proof” foods: pizza, hot dogs, bagels and beer.

For many Americans, the credit crunch and the mortgage mess have left their pocketbooks – and their cupboards – bare. These same consumers, many living paycheck to paycheck, have relied on these cheaper foods to keep their expenditures down. Not anymore.
In the past few months, the news has gone from bad to worse:

Pizza makers have seen their cheese costs soar this year from $1.30 a pound to $1.76 a pound. Even worse, the flour used to make the dough has gone from $3-$7 dollars a bushel to $25 a bushel in less than a year.

Beer makers have been forced to raise their prices because of the skyrocketing price of hops – one of the principle ingredients. The price of hops has gone from about $4 a pound in September to $40 a pound. The price of barley, beer’s other main ingredient, has nearly doubled.

More here........http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23415510/

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The Truckers Report Merchandise

Permit me to point out that flour is not sold by the bushel, but is sold by standards weights, just like much else in our society. Typically, it is sold in bagged form in 50 pound bags, or is handled in bulk, typically in 50,000 pound quantities. The price of grain is up some, but primarily that affects oils producing grains, such as soybeans and corn that can be distilled into ethanol. Wheat prices have not climbed drastically, and there are no indications of anything that I am aware of that would push flour prices to anywhere from 4-8 times thir price at this point last year.

Okay, I did some checking, and it turns out that spring wheat did reach a spike of 25 dollars a bushel on one market in that past few weeks. However, from having farmed, let me explain that a bit, because it is not as it seems.

This is in the futures market, where the traders and the farmers are actually selling wheat that is still in the fields. Basically, the farmer estimates the amount of wheat he will have at the appropriate time, and sells the promise to deliver that wheat to the desired location at that point. The wheat contracts then can be sold or resold by trades, and the farmer still gets the price he contracted for when he initially sold it.

So, two things happen here. At the price of 25 per bushel, most of that money was covered by traders rather than farmers. Most farmers had already committed their wheat sales, at a lower price, as they watched the price rising. At some point, they look at a rising price and decide to go ahead and sell now, rather than take a chance that the prices will fall and they will miss the high point. Most farmers aren;t greedy and will sell quickly enough to guarantee a reasonable profit, rather than wait for a spectacular one and miss out if the market falls.

but, when the prices hit 25, the traders who owned the contracts for 15, 18, or 20 dollars, were anble to seell their contracts to fill the 25 dollar demand, and make a profit in the process. They will buy the farmers wheat at 15 as contracted, then turn around and deliver the wheat for 25 to the people whom they sold the contract to. This is how the futures market works.

Bottom line, probably almost no farmers will ever see this 25 dollar price, because they long ago committed to the sale of their wheat at a lower price. Some traders will make out on the 25 dollar market, but I strongly suspect that the market was not that large and was easily satisfied with a small amount of trades.

Many years back, corn had a famous high of 5 dollars a bushel, when it was typically selling for around 2 dollars. And I asked around and never found a single farmer that picked up the 5 dollar price, because they all made arrangements to sell long before it got to that point.

Agricultural economic 101. Bad journalism 101 as well. A high price on wheat that has yet to be harvested does not raise the price of the flour that was milled from wheat grown last year at the rate that the article indicates.

This is gonna be worse than the gas prices LOL.

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I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

Yeah. I believe I posted something about a hops shortage a while ago. They done messed with the beer now!

Hey those hops farmers in Washington should be hoppy.

this is rediculous!! if you are having problems keeping up with the "bad" economy, dont buy pizza and beer ETC!!! for the price of a pizza delivered you could probably feed a family of 4 for 3-4 days if they got off their lazy butts and shopped smart and (here's a thought) actually cooked it themselves!

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tip for new truckers: to err is human, to forgive is not D.O.T. policy.
"if you don't HAVE the money to buy it, YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT"- DAVE RAMSEY

Yeah. And instead of driving to the supermarket to get GASP real wholesome food to cook themselves, they should GASP walk, bike or take the bus! Heaven forbid! That ain't American!

BUT DON'T MESS WITH MY SAM ADAMS!!

exactly!! and if ya can afford it, hell yeah on the sam adams!!!!!

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tip for new truckers: to err is human, to forgive is not D.O.T. policy.
"if you don't HAVE the money to buy it, YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT"- DAVE RAMSEY

We(wife and kids), found out that the outfit that makes pizza that you have to take home and bake to your exact taste is now located next to our local major food store that sells Sam A. at a discounted price along with other flavors.One stop Shop!

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Subject: Dumbest Quote of the Century

'My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it.'

- Barack Obama