The price of eggs – whom do we thank for this?
January 2, 2023 | Tags: PRICE OF LIBERTY
How many readers have been enjoying the great prices on eggs the last few months? According to many, things are going to get worse before they get better.
From the Gateway Pundit last week, we have this little story by Cassandra Fairbanks: Egg prices hit a record high and are still going up. “…Midwest large eggs, the benchmark for eggs sold in their shells, hit $5.46 per dozen, …This time last year, … that price was around $1.70.”
That, supposedly, was “the Midwest.” But in Colorado and the Dakotas and Wyoming, an 18-count of eggs hit a record of $8.49, although a sale coupon for 50c reduced that to $7.99, and “preferred customers” could get a single carton (18 count) for an amazing $4.19! Compare this to six months ago, when an 18-count was selling for $1.99.
No inflation here, of course, comrade. Move along, move along.
Why?
The news sources claim it is a combination of the avian flu and massively rising transportation and feed costs, all feeding off each other. Maybe… but there is more.
It is DC and various agencies that are to blame, certainly, with the mass slaughter and the bird flu panic. (Not the avian or bird flu itself: that seems to be real. In western South Dakota, even geese are dying off in much higher than normal numbers in the cold – no doubt aggravating the flu.
But for the Northern Plains and Rockies, we can blame another Demo entity – the General Assembly and Governor of Colorado – that also has considerable responsibility.
Although it’s not been reported in any national media, on 01 January, new laws went into effect in Colorado which basically prohibit the production and sale of any eggs produced by any hens that are not close to free-range. Confined operations are not outright prohibited, but required to change facilities and procedures in many incredibly expensive and disruptive ways.
The result is already being seen as healthy hens had to be culled and production slowed just to rebuild and remodel to meet the requirements. Since large-scale local production of eggs in Wyoming and western South Dakota ceased decades ago, most of the eggs (produced for chains Kroger, Albertsons/Safeway, WalMart) come from Colorado producers for this entire region. Hence the skyrocketing prices.
But as Ms. Cassandra points out, there is no sign it will slow down. Especially with the harsh weather of the last two weeks further depleting flocks across much of the States. (And funny, but free-range chickens tend to die off in large numbers when daily temperatures don’t even get up to 0F.)
And people aren’t even talking about energy prices, again spiking with the repeated storm fronts knocking down temperatures, even along the Gulf Coast, even while gasoline prices start to climb again. Oddly, in some parts of the country, Diesel prices have dropped – in western South Dakota, for instance, some stations are less than $4/gallon for the first time in a year. But that may be as much due to demand as supply. Thousands of trucks were (almost literally) frozen in place for much of a week on I-80, I-90, and other major haul routes.
We cannot (probably cannot) blame the governments for the weather. But the government’s responsibility for disrupting supply chains, crippling business (farmers, truckers, distribution, etc.) is clear. As is government’s failure to maintain roadways, due to poor planning AND because government-caused inflation makes fuel and maintenance ever more expensive.
But Congress and the Biden regime have more important things to worry about. Including the insane spending in the omnibus bill of $1.7 (some claim $1.85) trillion. The $800+ billion for “defense” (not counting the $65B for foreign aid to Ukraine, latest installment of our spending for a proxy war that is significantly above the military budgets of 95% of the world’s nations. The various hundred million and billion dollar pork barrel projects including insane research projects and foreign aid on the craziest things.