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The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

newyorker.com

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Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#91

Post by oldjavacoder »

tootie wrote: post #76
mrits wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you under the impression that droughts didn't happen in Texas until the 21st century? Can we stop calling all extreme weather climate change? It just gives talking points to the critics.

While a particular dry season isn't indicative of climate change, Texas is very much experiencing a decades-long drying that is definitely attributable to climate change. That water park may not be viable much longer. https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/news/megadrought-texas-american-...

Lived here for over 1.5 decades and do not see a "decades-long drying". Texas isn't perfect but water management is something it does right.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-last-drop/

"Among the fifty states, Texas may rank near the bottom in many categories—including environmental protection (forty-fifth), quality of parks and recreation (forty-ninth), and availability of mental health care (forty-sixth)—but there is one area of public policy where it ranks indisputably first: water planning. No other state knows with such precision how much water it has and how much it will have in the future."

"The drought of the 1890’s killed off much of its nascent cattle industry. In the fifties a seven-year drought (Texas’s worst statewide drought ever) destroyed much of the state’s agriculture and caused 244 of the state’s 254 counties to be declared federal disaster areas. This led the state legislature to create the Texas Water Development Board, which published its first water plan in 1961."

For every time a climate change hand waver starts up, the answer is, yes climate change is real...it's how the Earth works.

What we need is for people moving to the state do do what we did and get rid of the back yard, make a nice rock garden, stop watering those massive lawns.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#92

Post by quickthrower2 »

thebooktocome wrote: post #3

That’s rough, but when a business is no longer economically viable it’s probably time to close up shop.

No you pivot! You have the shop, the loyalty, the community. What I imagine small towns need is convenience. If I can buy some groceries while at the BBQ house that is handy. Maybe sell phone chargers too and watnot. Change the menu so the items are affordable, large but the item cost is lower.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#93

Post by ev1 »

thebooktocome wrote: post #77
chiphammertime wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it's unfair of me, but I'm imagining a default-dead early startup guy saying this while drinking the weird mushroom water, so thank you for that

I probably give off that vibe. But nah, I’m just a jaded, cynical survivor of the Rust Belt imploding twenty years ago, causing similar destruction to our mom n’ pops. From which we also never really recovered. Anyway, more importantly, what weird mushroom water? Is it any good?

kombucha and it is very much an acquired taste IMO

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#94

Post by quickthrower2 »

pj_mukh wrote: post #23

Generally, this really sucks for the restaurant and the town but, "the price of food, particularly meat, has risen more than the over-all consumer-price index" Unpopular opinion: But maybe this is fine? In fact after inflation is under control, maybe real meat needs a heavy carbon tax to keep the prices high. We can rebuild the supply chain around fake meats as we slowly switch away. I know this all seems implausible…

One day the economic reaper will come for the software developers: will be kinda fun even though I am one because the the roll out of bed and get $200k/y lifestyle and the entitlement to that will vapourize.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#95

Post by gnicholas »

jason-phillips wrote: post #83

For context, I live in San Saba and Lampasas, TX. San Saba is located two hours northwest of Austin where the population density is three people per square mile. While there is truth to the story about inflation hitting rural, poorer areas the hardest, this gentleman's quotes are a but of a stretch. > Brisket went from one sixty-nine a pound to seven Brisket has not been $1.69 for years, unless this gentleman has som…

> It seems that this person is saying we could lose BBQ in all 254 counties in Texas? That's unmitigated hyperbole and balderdash.

I interpreted this to mean that BBQ is available in all of the counties in TX, and that may no longer be true in the future, since some rural counties may lose their last BBQ joint.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#96

Post by frumper »

throwaway1777 wrote: post #61
bluedino wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they that much? I pay $1.49 for 18 eggs at Kroger

Those must be really low quality eggs? The Costco ones are not quite the bottom tier.

Eggs at my Costco were $8-9 for 60 large a couple weeks ago.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#97

Post by dragonwriter »

ev1 wrote: post #93
thebooktocome wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I probably give off that vibe. But nah, I’m just a jaded, cynical survivor of the Rust Belt imploding twenty years ago, causing similar destruction to our mom n’ pops. From which we also never really recovered. Anyway, more importantly, what weird mushroom water? Is it any good?

kombucha and it is very much an acquired taste IMO

How is fermented tea “mushroom water”?

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#98

Post by rafaelero »

SoftTalker wrote: post #90
rafaelero wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, if you were to change meat for sugary and processed food then sure, it wouldn't be a good idea. But between meat and beans? Meat and vegetables? There must be a reason vegetarians are leaner than meat eaters and vegans are leaner than vegetarians. Also, virtually all obese people have a meat heavy diet. So, lots of different evidence.

Obese people have a calorie heavy diet, that if anything is probably carb-heavy, but it doesn't really matter what the source is.

What a nonsense. Of course it matters. Some foods are more satiating than others. As an example, compare 100 calories of broccoli with 100 calories of ice cream.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#99

Post by ev1 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #97
ev1 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

kombucha and it is very much an acquired taste IMO

How is fermented tea “mushroom water”?

Old coworkers used to call the growth mushroom as slang for some reason, at least that was the first thing that came to mind.

The other one is a ludicrously overpriced relatively recent beverage called mud water (caffeinated mushroom water?)

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#100

Post by bpodgursky »

SoftTalker wrote: post #90
rafaelero wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, if you were to change meat for sugary and processed food then sure, it wouldn't be a good idea. But between meat and beans? Meat and vegetables? There must be a reason vegetarians are leaner than meat eaters and vegans are leaner than vegetarians. Also, virtually all obese people have a meat heavy diet. So, lots of different evidence.

Obese people have a calorie heavy diet, that if anything is probably carb-heavy, but it doesn't really matter what the source is.

Holding all other variables and calories equal, I'm confident that someone who eats 3000 calories of chicken and broccoli daily is going to have a different body composition and health stats than someone who eats 3000 calories of Doritos.
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