Well this is a great story: mega-chains ranging from McDonald's to Nestle, Cracker Barrel to Whole Foods, are raising their prices, not because they're trying to milk you dry, but because the cost for food is going up, up, up. Yay!
The United States Department of Agriculture had already forecast this year that food prices would rise an average of three to four percent, but other food watchers say food inflation is even higher–thus, the price gouging.
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But one forecaster says the only way to curb this inflation, to stop hamburger riots, is to pray that our economy continues to slow down, thus halting consumption.
The fascinating thought is actually paraphrased, in a Bloomberg article as the following:
A prolonged economic slowdown would curb demand and may
halt further price increases, said [Bill] Lapp, the former ConAgra
economist. Unlike in 2008, when food rose at the fastest pace in
28 years, consumers are quick to seek cheaper alternatives, he
said.
I can be some Alice Water snob and welcome the rise of food as a way to force Americans to look inward and raise more food, or an Eric Schlosser alarmist and decry the globalization of the food industry that makes such prices so volatile (actually, Schlosser is hardly alarmist and is actually more sober in his analysis than critics will ever acknowledge), but I'll save that for now. Just remember, folks: you should always rely on what's around you more than what companies offer you–wait, I just did what I said I wouldn't…
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