All,
I'll play the agent provocateur for a moment here...
I've read several posts tonight of people being unable to find
different types of food stuffs in their local groceries (major chains)
such as ginger and peanut oil. IMHO, this seems to be a growing trend
across the US recently.
Here in NYC, Costco has recently been "rationing" bags of rice to
its customers and bananas seem to be in short supply due to their
rising price and, according to a couple of local deli owners, their
inability to obtain them in quantity from their suppliers, The guy,
who runs the deli across the street, said that he can only buy "one
box of bananas a month" and can't really make a profit off them
because he has to price them too high.
Also, the price of those great NYC "staples", bagels and pizza, keep
going up every month due to increases in the price of wheat flour. A
loaf of decent corporate produced multigrain bread is creeping up to
almost US$4 a loaf, but a local mom and pop bakery can provide a
superior bakery loaf for about US$2.50. As an economist, I can't help
but wonder where economy of scale comes into play.
Strangely, though, corn products (isn't corn what is being turned
into biofuels?) seem to be relatively cheap these days here, A stack
of tortillas from the local commercial tortillarias, costs about
US$0.99 and I can still buy three ears of corn/maize for about 40
cents a ear out of season, Why aren't all of the Southern Mexican
corn/maize farmers that are here illegally, running back to their
farms to make their make a profit off of their land and support their
families? The answer is NAFTA. US corporate agricultural interests
are buying up Mexican lands on the cheap and raising corn/maize on
corporate farms.
What's going on? Costco and Wamart can't buy enough rice to meet
their demand, but all of the local asian (not just Chinese) groceries
seem to have plenty.
I smell a rat...Corporate Greed.