Republican Economic Failures Leave Americans To Struggle With High Food and Gas Prices
When Bush was campaigning in 1999 he complained that Clinton should have personally pressured OPEC about the high price of gasoline: $1.84 a gallon! Now that hardworking Americans have to pay $4.00 per gallon Bush is mute and unaware of the cost and can't even successfully pressure his friends the Saudis and other OPEC members. What a hypocrite!
So, regular Americans must pay this high cost of gas to go to the supermarket where the price of food has increased also.
The Boston Globe reports, "American families, already pinched by soaring energy costs, are taking another big hit to household budgets as food prices increase at the fastest rate since 1990.
"After nearly two decades of low food inflation, prices for staples such as bread, milk, eggs, and flour are rising sharply, surging in the past year at double-digit rates, according to the Labor Department. Milk prices, for example, increased 26 percent over the year. Egg prices jumped 40 percent.
"Corn, for example, is a key ingredient in livestock feed. When the price of corn rises, so does the price of feed, and ultimately, so do the prices of meat, poultry, and eggs.
"Escalating food costs could present a greater problem than soaring oil prices for the national economy because the average household spends three times as much for food as for gasoline. Food accounts for about 13 percent of household spending compared with about 4 percent for gas.
"Several factors contribute to higher food prices, analysts say, but none more than record prices for oil, which last week closed above $105 a barrel. Oil is not only driving up production and transportation costs, but also adding to demand for corn and soybeans, used to make alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel."
I've written a number of posts about the biofuel, alternative fuel scam.
For example, in November: "As for ethanol promoters, that's a dirty secret that needs to be exposed. The ethanol production process emits carcinogenic pollutants and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warning. It also enriches the coffers of Republican corporate agribusinesses like ADM, ranked as the tenth worst corporate air polluter, on the "Toxic 100" list of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts."
And here: "And the ethanol scam is a doozy. An article in today's Inter Press Service news again points out some of the disastrous problems of biofuels. " 'The U.S. has led the fight to stem global hunger, now we are creating hunger,' said Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank in Washington.
" 'The booming U.S. ethanol industry is diverting enormous amounts food into fuel: 81 million tonnes of grain in 2007 and 114 million tonnes this year, equaling 28 percent of the entire U.S. grain harvest,' Brown told IPS.
" 'Grain prices are at record or near-record highs and they will go higher," he said. 'We might be the first society in history to use public tax dollars to drive up its own food prices.'
" 'We pay billions to support the ethanol industry and then we pay again at the supermarket for higher-priced foods,' said Brown."
Bush is probably just as ignorant about the increased price of food such as milk, eggs, bread, and fruit and the financial strain it is causing American families.
But then why should he or Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, worry? They're members of the Bushite have's and have more's. They're not concerned about the harsh and harmful consequences that Bush's policies have inflicted on 98% of the American people.
So, regular Americans must pay this high cost of gas to go to the supermarket where the price of food has increased also.
The Boston Globe reports, "American families, already pinched by soaring energy costs, are taking another big hit to household budgets as food prices increase at the fastest rate since 1990.
"After nearly two decades of low food inflation, prices for staples such as bread, milk, eggs, and flour are rising sharply, surging in the past year at double-digit rates, according to the Labor Department. Milk prices, for example, increased 26 percent over the year. Egg prices jumped 40 percent.
"Corn, for example, is a key ingredient in livestock feed. When the price of corn rises, so does the price of feed, and ultimately, so do the prices of meat, poultry, and eggs.
"Escalating food costs could present a greater problem than soaring oil prices for the national economy because the average household spends three times as much for food as for gasoline. Food accounts for about 13 percent of household spending compared with about 4 percent for gas.
"Several factors contribute to higher food prices, analysts say, but none more than record prices for oil, which last week closed above $105 a barrel. Oil is not only driving up production and transportation costs, but also adding to demand for corn and soybeans, used to make alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel."
I've written a number of posts about the biofuel, alternative fuel scam.
For example, in November: "As for ethanol promoters, that's a dirty secret that needs to be exposed. The ethanol production process emits carcinogenic pollutants and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warning. It also enriches the coffers of Republican corporate agribusinesses like ADM, ranked as the tenth worst corporate air polluter, on the "Toxic 100" list of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts."
And here: "And the ethanol scam is a doozy. An article in today's Inter Press Service news again points out some of the disastrous problems of biofuels. " 'The U.S. has led the fight to stem global hunger, now we are creating hunger,' said Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank in Washington.
" 'The booming U.S. ethanol industry is diverting enormous amounts food into fuel: 81 million tonnes of grain in 2007 and 114 million tonnes this year, equaling 28 percent of the entire U.S. grain harvest,' Brown told IPS.
" 'Grain prices are at record or near-record highs and they will go higher," he said. 'We might be the first society in history to use public tax dollars to drive up its own food prices.'
" 'We pay billions to support the ethanol industry and then we pay again at the supermarket for higher-priced foods,' said Brown."
Bush is probably just as ignorant about the increased price of food such as milk, eggs, bread, and fruit and the financial strain it is causing American families.
But then why should he or Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, worry? They're members of the Bushite have's and have more's. They're not concerned about the harsh and harmful consequences that Bush's policies have inflicted on 98% of the American people.
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