Sunday, April 6, 2008

Shopping Day, Part 1

Well, Sunday was grocery shopping day for my wife and I, so why not share the mundanities of that activity in what was once a highly-charged political blog? After all, politics seems to have "trickled down" to the grocery store lately, for many of us. So, to begin, here is a nice little shopping list from an article at Organic Consumers dot org:
QUICK FACTS OF THE WEEK: A NATION BUILT ON UNSUSTAINABILITY - FUEL, FOOD, AND DEBT

With trucking diesel fuel prices now over $4 per gallon in many locations, food prices are reaching an all time high, since the average grocery store item has traveled 1500-3500 miles.

Over the past year, alone, consumers have been forced to pay significantly more for staples like eggs (25 percent), milk (17 percent), cheese (15 percent), bread (12 percent), and rice (13 percent). This is partially due to increased costs of transportation and partially due to massive amounts of cropland being converted to biofuel production. As a result, consumers are paying more for their food and paying $15 billion in increased taxes per year for biofuel subsidies.

Fuel prices have nearly doubled the expenses of commuters over the last year. Recent polls show a strong majority of U.S. citizens are in favor of allocating a larger portion of the federal budget for mass transportation.

In contrast, the amount of federal money earmarked for mass transit projects (example: rail and bus) has been reduced by nearly 70% since the Bush Administration took over in 2001.

A record number of consumers are using credit cards to pay for increased fuel costs. Although the recession has negatively impacted employment, the New York Times reports one of the few booming occupations in the current job market is as a Debt Collector.

Since 2001, the top five oil companies have increased their annual profits by an average of 500%.
Thank goodness I have a liberal supply of stored fat to get me through the lean times. Between that and not being able to afford gas, I'll soon be a lean, mean, coupon-clipping machine.

4 comments:

The Future Was Yesterday said...

"As a result, consumers are paying more for their food and paying $15 billion in increased taxes per year for biofuel subsidies."
Or, put another way, we're paying more for food because of fuel oil, and the stuff that's supposed to replace it! ???

"Since 2001, the top five oil companies have increased their annual profits by an average of 500%."
I've often wondered about this. That's ONLY the oil companies. Wonder how much the Arabs made?

SheaNC said...

How about the booming job of debt collector? Yikes!

Anonymous said...

If you never learned to hunt - now would be a good time.

Mike of the North said...

Since 2001, the top five oil companies have increased their annual profits by an average of 500%...

Can't you all see that this only proves that capitalism works!?!