"Melba's Jammin'" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "<RJ>" > wrote:
>
>> When did the 5lb sack of flour
>> jump up to $3.29 ? ( southern AZ )
>
>> They can't say they're using it to make Ethanol....
>
> But when the farmers put their land into corn instead of wheat because
> of the demand for ethanol, the wheat prices rise. Increased flour
> prices have been killing small independent bakeries.
>
>
I don't think that's the case, the US produces far more wheat than it can
possibly consume, the US (and Canada) exports more wheat than it consumes
(if not for North American wheat there'd be little pasta in Italy). There
are many other reasons why bakeries are having a difficult time, one biggie
is the cost of fuel to heat their ovens, another is the cost of fuel to
truck to market what they produce. A very big problem for all businesses is
that they can't pay enough wages for their employees to survive. Not only
have individuals over extended their credit, so have all businesses... the
US became a society of conspicuous consumption, and now pay back is
[literally] a bitch. Unfortunately those of us who have for all our lives
exercised restraint are having to pay for all those who have produced little
and spent much. Right now California is demonstrating a prime example of
spoiled brats... when I moved to CA in the early '60s I had no idea what's a
Freeway, then I learned, it's a road system that encourages conspicuous
consumption. It would take less than a year for CA to be way, WAY into the
black if it had the cajones to charge as little as 1¢/mile to use those
roads and put a $5 toll on every bridge... think of all the fuel folks
wouldn't use and how the air would become clean. Californians were always
pinheads, and except for Obama Arnold has the lowest IQ in the western
hemisphere, and for all his muscles he's the biggest wuss on the planet.