Almost 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck barely able to afford to put food on the table. That’s terrible news considering the predictions currently assume that grocery prices will steadily continue to rise during 2019.
Grocery prices are expected to rise by 1 percent or 2 percent this year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. It may seem small, but with so many U.S. households already living paycheck to paycheck, it could be just enough to have a real financial impact. Although food prices rose by just a fraction of a percent last year, and that was the first increase in three years, and it looks like prices will rise consistently during 2019, according to WCVB 5, an ABC News affiliate.
Some food items, such as pork, eggs, fats, and oils could see prices decline during 2019, the USDA predicted. However, that’s not great news considering egg prices climbed nearly 10.8 percent last year. The prices of beef, poultry, fish, and sweets are all expected to increase. “Electricity and diesel costs, as well as many other costs associated with food production, transport, and retail sales, are expected to rise, placing upward pressure on prices,” officials wrote. Fresh vegetable prices increased from November to December, rising 3.4 percent, and are 4.6 percent higher than in December 2017.
That means that not only will our food prices be going up, so will the cost of electricity and other utilities further strapping American families. This leaves families already living paycheck to paycheck making the tough decision of where to cut costs. The trade war’s tariffs are expected to play a role in the rising cost of food in 2019.
https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/living-paycheck-to-paycheck-the-new-crisis-and-normal-for-the-american-middle-class_02072019
Rising food prices threaten those in an unstable financial situation. Any increase in food prices is usually thanks to burdensome regulations or taxation. This small, but noticeable increases also disproportionately affect the poor, yet big government advocates want even more expensive regulations. So much for that lie that liberals care about the poor.
This is news?
I just spent a fortune on 4 years worth of food for 10 people before I read this. Makes me feel better about being broke as hell.
Menzoberranzan, that’s a lot of food! Did you get anything good?
I saw a prepper video on YouTube a few months ago that stated that you should prep what you will miss most. I thought that it was an interesting way to look at prepping. However, I really didn’t have a good answer.
As far as food is concerned, I would miss meat the most. Hamburger and chicken. Good Stuff, they make life worth living!
Man does not live by bread alone, but slap a little meat in-between and I’m good to go?!?!
Yes, I spent nearly my life savings on it. It can go further if rationed.
Congratulations. You’ll be eating next year at this year’s prices! Good investment.
Menzoberranzan, congrats! I wish I could make a sizeable purchase of food but cannot afford to right now.
That much food will provide a lot of food security!!
Max and Anon I just didn’t want to be a day too late.
I like to slap my meat in between.
what is your address again? 🙂
already HAPPENED!
The loser but still self sufficient working classes will feel the effects of this (as they already are in most things as well as food).
Those living off of or supplemented by government benefits are unlikely to be much affected by this.
The price of “free” will still be nothing for those that receive it.
better stock up on this stuff!
make your OWN food, it’s better for you.
macaroni
rice
pinto beans
canned fruit like peaches, fruit cocktail, pears, apricots
peanut butter
tomatoes and tomato sauce
cornmeal
flour
sugar, brown sugar
tabasco sauce
oats
BBQ sauce
popcorn and seasoning
olives, black
canned chilli
canned soups…my favorite, cream of mushroom
milk, dried, evaporated, and condensed
cake mix, 7up or sprite, and canned fruit…to make cobbler, apple or cherry is MY faves(google that)
canned veggies
honey
syrup
vinegar
shortening/corn oil
soy sauce…teriyake
beef/chicken bullion
baking soda, baking powder, yeast
salt
pepper, garlic salt, chilli powder, italian seasoning, cinnamon, ketchup, mustard mayo.
instant coffee, tea..creamer
hard candy, chocolate
tuna, spam(don’t stack it very high)
powdered eggs
that list is your protection against inflation……better have a BUNCH of it.
I was listening to Trump give a speech and he was talking about the tariffs he has put on Chinese goods. We are getting billions and billions of dollars into the Treasury. It’s beautiful. China is paying billions in tariffs to us, he said.
I have to wonder if he even knows how tariffs work. Whoever buys and imports the Chinese goods into the US is the one who pays the tariffs, not the Chinese exporters. The cost of the tariffs is then tacked on to the price consumers pay here in the US. The purpose is to stop the import of Chinese goods because they become too expensive for consumers to buy as compared to domestic products. Since the Treasury is taking in billions and billions in tariffs, it doesn’t seem to be working.
JRS
“The purpose is to stop the import of Chinese goods because they become too expensive for consumers to buy as compared to domestic products.”
This will only work if it remains in effect long enough and which the belief that it will continue into the future. Only then will manufactures build facilities in the US. I believe that they’re largely convinced that it won’t remain.
Because its not enough!!
But, but, but, wait………they say there is no inflation. How can this be?
Someone tell that to Social Security and the Federal Reserve who think the CPI is 2%
You free trade folks hate tariffs but then complain about inflation. Can you not see they are connected phenomena?
Keep it up and it will take three people to earn what a single man earned in 1990. That is the way it is going.
The definition of inflation is an increase in the money supply. I don’t get the connection with tariffs and inflation.
They allowed free trade which benefitted China in ENORMOUS ways so much so that they actively recruited peasants to come to the urban manufacturing centers.
Then we lost most of the manufacturing jobs to China, yet we still sell them agricultural products.
This meant idiot politicians created government jobs to bolster a weakening domestic economy and simultaneously it increased those on public assistance which helped drive deficit spending.
We need to focus on our domestic economy and the ONLY way to make that work is to RESTRICT foreign trade. That means tariffs and if that fails,then outright BAN international trade.
99% of all US currency is ELECTRONIC not printed, and each bank can create currency by new loans, so it’s not entirely the US government’s fault, is it? That’s the problem with fractional reserve lending.
There is effectively zero demand for even more US debt instruments so the Federal Reserve is pretending to buy them through monetizing the debt. It’s ABSURD.
Socialist Jesus will provide free fish, bread, and wine to the people.
How often did Jesus do that the entire time he was on the Earth?
“When’s Jesus going to bring the pork chops?” George Carlin
Inflation has several causes.
1. The classic “too many dollars chasing too few goods”
2. Cost of production goes up and the inflation is focused to those items
3. Increase in the velocity of money as $1 buys $1 worth of goods but passed through 100 hands it buys $100 worth of goods. This phenomenon is generally attributed to artificially low interest rates with its increasing debt (essentially #1 above by other means)
Tariffs are associated with #2. Tariffs may save or “protect” an industry but it is a tax. That tax costs $$$.
Okay, but in #1 and #3 you mean price increases caused by an increase in the money supply (inflation). An increase in debt or credit is an increase in the money supply.
Price increases can be anywhere. Lately it seems to be in assets and the stock market and not so much in food and fuel.
Tariffs definitely cause prices to rise on those products in #2 but that’s not caused by inflation, that’s caused by economic policy.
” Lately it seems to be in assets and the stock market and not so much in food and fuel.”
Thats indicative of where the QE money has went. Companies borrowed lots of it at low interest buying back their stock falsely inflating their stock prices. Profits made off of this went to assets too. The People, not getting much of a slice of QE other than trickle down can’t drive up prices with shallow pockets. QE was selective.
What pi$$es me off is inflation is a policy of the Fed. My income is fixed as my pensions are annuities. This means that as I age, it is government policy to make me increasingly poorer. I am not the only one suffering this fate. I have a plan that gives me a good chance to avoid living on dog food at age 120, but most people haven’t thought that far ahead or had the resources to execute such a plan.
We need to throttle Democrats if we are to ever survive the next 100 years.
rellik
Don’t think for a minute that the 6 or so trillion (a trillion is still serious money) thrown away in bullshit, useless and in reality criminal Middle East wars predicated on false pretenses didn’t add to it. M1 is M1, military or civilian spent.
There is plenty of blame for both the Neo-Cons and Progressives.
it’s not so much the inflation that bothers ME…..it’s that they LIE, and say inflation is less than it really IS….
Inflation is baked into the worldwide monetary system. Inflation is caused by compound usury. Anytime money is created (loan, credit) usury is added to it. Compound usury means the money supply MUST constantly grow in order to pay back the principal PLUS the interest. The interest was not created when the debt was created. It must be created in another loan and acquired by the debtor in order to pay both the usury and the principal.
The only way to not have inflation is to create a monetary system that does not include usury. In order to not have deflation, you would need to increase the money supply in proportion to any increases in population but no more than that. This is where precious was used and when more gold was acquired it actually raised the value of the scrip and lowered prices. The banks could not have a constant money supply with their usury so they had to break the gold tether…and here we are.
You can thank the new refrigerant upgrades foisted on grocery stores, as well as all the new monitors and electronics there, and also rising trucking costs.
It’s time to take your .22lr 10-22 assault rifle and shoot squirrels on the way home for dinner, and thank god that Oregon lets you take home road kill, like their Governor says, “lick the beaver state and be happy”.
Consumer Price Inflation is what is commonly thought of as “Inflation”. Economists call an expansion of the money supply “Inflation”. Both are correct, depending on context.
There is commonly a time lag of six months to a year for the CPI to increase after there is an inflation of the money supply.
From what I saw at the grocery during 2018, the idea of 2% price inflation is absolute nonsense. I give far more credibility to wwww.shadowstats.com.
China is facing a new swine flu epidemic believed to have originated in Africa. The Chinese are big consumers of pork products. They are purchasing American pork so look for the prices on pork products to go up. The Chinese already own Smithfield which owns a significant percentage of the hogs in America.
I keep the utility bill statements each month.
The cost per kw in Dec/2010 was .089¢.
Dec/2018, the cost per kw was .138¢.
Our cost per unit has increased 4¢ in 10 years.
A house using 1000 kw has an increase of
40 dollars each month..2000 would be a 80 dollars increase.
It’s time to grow your own, food. When Cuba was under NWO attack by food, Castro ordered his people to grow organic food — everywhere! Cuba survived the NWO by growing their own food. Let’s get growin’ people.
Cultivating your food scraps (which regenerate), guerilla gardening, and urban permaculture will eventually take over your entire life, if you let it.
Filled my stomach, again and again.
I know it sounds ridiculous. One meticulously-tended tree pot, if all you had was an apartment.
Every tree, plant, and weed, growing up through a crack in the asphalt, was created for some useful purpose, so will generally have some kind of provenance or anthropological use. Every last thing.
If you are a young married Christian couple, the best way to cope is start regularly eating inexpensive pinto dried beans,rice, lentils, peas, etc. Slowly but surely pocket your savings and prepay against the balance on your mortgage principal. Eat meat that is inexpensive and filling, and go in together with another couple and buy bulk meat and butcher it yourself into usable sizes. One of the couples has a freezer and pays less.
Make your own recipes and skip any premade meals.
Stay home and cuddle on the couch and watch a DVD or stream a video instead of going out. Never go to bars. It is too expensive. If you like wine, learn basic wine making, and especially ask questions from a mentor.
Lower your utility bill. If you can cut and split wood then consider an insert in the fireplace or a woodstove.
Grow a basic garden using the square foot method and using a soaker hose as inexpensive drip irrigation.
Cut back on all gifts and make some instead.
Go to rummage and garage sales. Start trading clothes especially for children as it’s nonsense to buy new clothing that is only worn for a brief time.
Ride a bike or walk. I suggest you put gear on your bike so you can carry stuff.
Buy used tools. Fix everything yourself like appliances. Buy nothing new.
Recruit friends with ancestral skills, and help each other with odd jobs like painting and small repairs like replacing glazing. Have potlucks and great conversation and share camping trips. It’s fun to rent and share a canoe or occasionally a family member has horses or y’all can help get the fruit harvest and then can and bake pies amd cobbler together.
Get rid of parasitic acquaitences.
You can buy old brick and sweep in sand, and now you have a patio. Get three other guys to help you remove the turf and level it and then lay it out so it will DRAIN. Then help them fiz their. Eventually you get some used chairs from garage sales or make them. You might then build a picnic table. If going to the trouble to build one, and one of your biddies has a truck, then build four.
Doing one monthly simple carpentry job is good for you. Then you can easily have potlucks outside in late spring through autumn.
Consider making a firepit and building a grill. Plan it so you can rig up a sink and wash area. Have your buddies help you, then help them.
You can’t afford to pay someone, but working together, you all can afford these things.
Take turns babysitting so the wives don’t go insane from screaming colicky babies. Save your money instead of paying a teenager who likely is inattentive.
If completely broke, but you have access to a truck, most of the time, when people move, they have stuff they cannot move. Volunteer to help them move in trade for furnishings, books, clothing, tools, electronics, furniture.
Many time, people will leave stuff by the curb. Pick it up and sell or trade it.
Go to rummage/garage sales on the last hour of the last day, and low ball a price and haul it off. Sell it piecemeal or use it.
Anybody can do this and especially if trading with your buddies can then save a small fortune. Somebody will end up with a prefectly fine chainsaw and a hedge trimmer and circular and jigsaws this way. Share tools initially but in the end, acquire your own.
All of your kids,can get bikes this way. People throw away perfectly fine things as they have no use for them.
We do the yard sale circuit Fri & Sat and trash pick on Monday evening. There are lots of aged here. They pass away if they rent the landlord cleans out their stuff in the absence of family doing it swiftly making it ready for rent. Unopened stuff is common. Recently got a bunch making two trips in the pickup truck. The deceased it turns out was an MD. Got some great gun books, no guns, wondered what the landlord got. While others are embarrassed at doing this we take pride showing people visiting what we got at yard sales and trash picking. On this note I knew operators at a trash to steam plant. They got fireable guns, a jar in an old roll top desk filled with silver dollars, new clothes wrapped in plastic from stores, mega boxes of new sneakers. It’s unbelievable what gets thrown away. To keep harmony its all equally divided (as possible). The shift supervisor oversees the distribution.
Typically the family rummage through and take a few keepsakes mostly of sentimental value. If you like classic books, you could fill whole libraries easily. Sometimes very valuable antiques can be found. Older folks will often move to the main floor as they have trouble getting around, so downstairs can have really cruddy used furniture and very expensive burl inlay dressers upstairs and four poster beds and expensive hardwood chifferobes.
I put together LOTS of pefectly fine computers in the old days and gave them away. There typically are handtools and then sometimes unusual old equipment like cider presses stuck in the basement that probably were their greatgreatgrandarents’ farm equipment.
No inflation? Kroger just put in 20% increases on a LOT of products! Mostly packaged foods. I suspect this was the result of eating the increases for the past 5 years and finally having to react by passing the price increases through to the customer. They try to keep the store brand products constant though.
weetbix is the number one product for food prepping,. Cooked, very long use by date. Cheap at $3.00 Australian for a box
Note most fods have much longer use by dates than printed on the packet/can. I used flour last month that was 4 yrs out of date. No problems with taste either. Must be stored in coolm dark place. Old freezer kept inside. No moisture did the job. Even a portable pantry with shelves, But keep dry and cool and vermin free