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This isn't gonna be good for the poor and middle class. . . .


Herodotus
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Brace yourself, fuel and food cost surges are coming:

Yeah, this one is alarming to me.  I get it, most of you grew up middle class.  I grew up skirting just above economic collapse.  I remember the days where the school lunch was the only meal for the day.  I remember mom missing a meal because she wasn't hungry.  It was only when I was a bit older I realized it was either I eat or she did.  I always, even from the time I was very young (say 5 or 6), able to discern my family's economic health by what was in the fridge.  Steak, hamburgers, junk food, cheese, lunch meat, potato chips? Pay day had just happened, and times were good.  Chicken breasts, pasta, ravioli, we were doing okay.  Beans, rice, hot dogs? We were fucked.  Mom was not hungry? We had no money.  Sadly, we are going to see a lot of children going hungry in our country this winter.  I won't bring up the war and our ridiculous foreign policy that caused it.  I won't blame dems or republicans, but I will say a lot of Americans are going to be hurting this winter. . . .

 

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The shortage of the fuel used for heating and trucking is a key worry for the Biden administration heading into winter -- and ahead of the November election. National Economic Council Director Brian Deese told Bloomberg TV Wednesday that that diesel inventories are “unacceptably low” and “all options are on the table” to build supplies and reduce retail prices.

 

The US is has just 25 days of diesel supply, the lowest since 2008, according to the Energy Information Administration. At the same time, the four-week rolling average of distillates supplied, a proxy for demand, rose to its highest seasonal level since 2007. While weekly demand dipped slightly, it’s still at highest point in two years amid higher trucking, farming and heating use.

The diesel crunch comes just weeks ahead of the midterm elections and has the potential to drive up prices for consumers who already view inflation and the economy as a top voting issue. Retail prices have been steadily climbing for more than two weeks. At $5.324 a gallon, they’re 50% higher than this time last year, according to AAA data.

Nationally, stockpiles have drained as refiners entered maintenance season and as Russia’s war in Ukraine tightened global supplies and limited imports. Market backwardation -- where prompt deliveries are priced at a premium over future deliveries -- has made building inventory extremely costly, feeding into a vicious cycle of tight supplies and price spikes.

In New England, where more people burn fuel for heating than anywhere else in the country, stockpiles are less than a third of typical levels for this time of year

 

Diesel Supply of Just 25 Days Poses Problem for Biden (yahoo.com)

Quote

 

With the umpteenth diesel price increase just around the corner, food security will become problematic as the high fuel price will result in rising input costs and subsequently higher food prices.

After the most recent increase in the diesel price, consumers are already paying R8 more for the commodity than they did this time last year. This is before an expected rise of more than R1 in November.

The new planting season recently started, and the already extremely high input costs farmers must deal with are now even higher.

“Even with the 10 and 15c per litre increases and seen in perspective, the diesel price was already a huge challenge for farmers,” says TLU SA general manager Bennie van Zyl.

“It's about supply and demand - there is an extremely high demand for diesel and globally we are facing an energy crisis. The European winter has just started and there is already a huge shortage of gas.”

Farmers' input costs include seed, fertiliser, lime, fuel, pesticide, insurance, price hedging, electricity and maintenance.

The increase in the fuel price must be put in context.

“This has a direct influence on various factors and thus increases the costs of almost every item in the chain of essential survival tools. The costs also then increase for the farmer and seen in the current prices that the farmer get on the market, this is an extremely serious matter as there are farmers who are currently throwing products away as they are not economically marketable due to the poor prices that naturally is caused by the weak buyer's market, which financially has to use its money for essentials only, as there are no financial capacities to be able to afford a healthy plate of food every day," explains TLU SA’s Erika Helm.

This ripple effect is not going to be clearly visible now, but it must be considered that if the farmer does not make a profit, he cannot undertake the same plantings as the current year in the following planting seasons, due to a deficit in finances. Banks are reluctant to provide loans due to uncertainty around land expropriation.

“This means in reality that there is the prospect that there will be a serious decline in future plantings which will cause a food shortage,” TLU SA said.

 

How the high diesel price poses a risk to food security (msn.com)

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2 hours ago, Herodotus said:

Brace yourself, fuel and food cost surges are coming:

Yeah, this one is alarming to me.  I get it, most of you grew up middle class.  I grew up skirting just above economic collapse.  I remember the days where the school lunch was the only meal for the day.  I remember mom missing a meal because she wasn't hungry.  It was only when I was a bit older I realized it was either I eat or she did.  I always, even from the time I was very young (say 5 or 6), able to discern my family's economic health by what was in the fridge.  Steak, hamburgers, junk food, cheese, lunch meat, potato chips? Pay day had just happened, and times were good.  Chicken breasts, pasta, ravioli, we were doing okay.  Beans, rice, hot dogs? We were fucked.  Mom was not hungry? We had no money.  Sadly, we are going to see a lot of children going hungry in our country this winter.  I won't bring up the war and our ridiculous foreign policy that caused it.  I won't blame dems or republicans, but I will say a lot of Americans are going to be hurting this winter. . . .

 

Diesel Supply of Just 25 Days Poses Problem for Biden (yahoo.com)

How the high diesel price poses a risk to food security (msn.com)

Quite honestly I don’t think this is an accurate assessment. GDP is looking to show growth of 1.9% in Q3. Spending has not slowed so people have money to spend. Unemployment is at 3.5% and wages are up over 5%. Yes things cost more but I still see everyone with smart phones and the newest vehicle. I am sorry this is way way over blown. I have two young kids and quite frankly I am not feeling the pain. 
 

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/goldman-hikes-third-quarter-gdp-growth-estimate-19-2022-10-05/

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15 hours ago, TonyasTaters said:

Quite honestly I don’t think this is an accurate assessment. GDP is looking to show growth of 1.9% in Q3. Spending has not slowed so people have money to spend. Unemployment is at 3.5% and wages are up over 5%. Yes things cost more but I still see everyone with smart phones and the newest vehicle. I am sorry this is way way over blown. I have two young kids and quite frankly I am not feeling the pain. 
 

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/goldman-hikes-third-quarter-gdp-growth-estimate-19-2022-10-05/

I'm sorry but no its not.  There is a largely forgotten underclass in this nation whose lives have been severely impacted by both Trump and Biden's inflation and they will suffer because of the inflation the diesel shortage will trigger.  

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33 minutes ago, Herodotus said:

I'm sorry but no its not.  There is a largely forgotten underclass in this nation whose lives have been severely impacted by both Trump and Biden's inflation and they will suffer because of the inflation the diesel shortage will trigger.  

Inflation rate under Trump?

This is from NBC News.

Inflation rate is even higher now.

 

 

Inflation.png

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2 minutes ago, IrishLass said:

Inflation rate under Trump?

This is from NBC News.

Inflation rate is even higher now.

 

 

Inflation.png

I refer to food costs before covid to now.  Used to be able to get a couple weeks of groceries for 120.  Now its 200+.  Biden made it far worse but the supply chain probs started with Covid or perhaps covid just masked them.

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59 minutes ago, Herodotus said:

I refer to food costs before covid to now.  Used to be able to get a couple weeks of groceries for 120.  Now its 200+.  Biden made it far worse but the supply chain probs started with Covid or perhaps covid just masked them.

I have seen the people complaining they don’t have money? They drive $60k -90k trucks and SUV’s. They live in 2500 square foot homes. These people have over extended themselves. Keeping up with the Jones sort of speak is what is driving this. A positive GDP for Q3, historically low unemployment and significant increase in wages clearly supports this.

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4 hours ago, Herodotus said:

I refer to food costs before covid to now.  Used to be able to get a couple weeks of groceries for 120.  Now its 200+.  Biden made it far worse but the supply chain probs started with Covid or perhaps covid just masked them.

The supply chain problems started because the biggest exporter of goods in the world, China, along with every other country locked everything down. China is the worst because they had a no tolerance policy that they still continue to use today. Which means they are still effecting the supply chain today. On top of that, when you have a president who not only fucked up the response to Covid but was giving people $600 a week to not go back to work, that’s going to have a direct effect on the supply chain. Not to mention the generational effect of lazy young little fuckers that don’t want to work, cannot commit to their jobs and put in half an effort, if that 

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“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.

A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production.

Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

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I almost want Republicans to win both the house and the senate so that when nothing changes all the lip service on here will look really silly.

what are Republicans going to do if they end up sweeping in November and nothing changes or inflation continues to grow? I know exactly what they’ll do. Blame everybody else but themselves

“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.

A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production.

Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

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13 hours ago, HipKat said:

I almost want Republicans to win both the house and the senate so that when nothing changes all the lip service on here will look really silly.

what are Republicans going to do if they end up sweeping in November and nothing changes or inflation continues to grow? I know exactly what they’ll do. Blame everybody else but themselves

What do you think happens if Republicans have power and they blame the lazy people you're talking about?  What do you imagine their solution might be to fix this problem?

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1 hour ago, ICRockets2 said:

What do you think happens if Republicans have power and they blame the lazy people you're talking about?  What do you imagine their solution might be to fix this problem?

I don’t know, I’m trying to keep this based more on realism, not some fantasy situation that you’re creating to try to make a point that has nothing to do with what I posted

“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.

A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production.

Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

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3 minutes ago, HipKat said:

I don’t know, I’m trying to keep this based more on realism, not some fantasy situation that you’re creating to try to make a point that has nothing to do with what I posted

What part of "Republicans have government power and they scapegoat America's problems on welfare queens" seems unrealistic to you?

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28 minutes ago, ICRockets2 said:

What part of "Republicans have government power and they scapegoat America's problems on welfare queens" seems unrealistic to you?

Actually, they scapegoat America’s problems on Democrats

“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.

A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production.

Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

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13 minutes ago, HipKat said:

Actually, they scapegoat America’s problems on Democrats

For now, yes.  But once they control the House, the Senate, the White House, and the Supreme Court they will pass federal election "reform" that ensures no other party has a functional chance of unseating them electorally.  At that point, they'll need a new scapegoat.  I'm asking you what you think their solution will look like if they pick the one you're talking about.

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