NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: Have You Seen The Price Of Arugula Lately?
On the campaign trail in IA back in 2007, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama (he wasn’t using his middle name back then, only “racists” were) fretted about the price of arugula at Whole Foods (“I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.”).
The bad news is that arugula hasn’t gotten any cheaper since Obama’s taken office – and plain old iceberg lettuce costs what arugula used to four years ago. In fact, wholesale food prices rose 3.9 percent last month, the highest jump since November 1974, reports The Associated Press:
Most of the increase was because of harsh winter freezes in Florida, Texas and other Southern states, which damaged crops.
At the same time, global prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, coffee and other commodities have risen sharply in the past year. That's raised the price of animal feed, which has pushed up the cost of eggs, ground beef and milk.
Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, says his firm has warned since last summer that spikes in commodity prices eventually would work their way down to wholesalers and consumers, "and here it is. There is plenty more to come over the next few months."
But wait, there’s good news. At a town-hall in the borough of Queens, NY, New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley explained that rising food and fuel prices aren’t counted when calculating “core” inflation, and pointed out that "Today you can buy an iPad 2 that costs the same as an iPad 1 that is twice as powerful. You have to look at the prices of all things."
But hold on, that’s not such good news because, as AP explains, “More expensive food means people have less money for the casual spending that helps the economy grow and create jobs.“
And as one NYer retorted, "I can't eat an iPad."
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