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Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

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201–210 of 389 posts

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#201

Apparently the reason the price of eggs is so high is because A LOT of chickens had to be destroyed this year due to avian flu. We're talking millions of birds. Fewer chickens, less eggs, higher prices.

I mean that the published answer. There is another narrative where due to weak central governments that aren't interested in protecting consumers, companies have realized there is quite a bit more meat on the bone when it comes to margin if consumers have no real choice. Companies see the federal line that we're in an inflationary environment and raise prices re-actively.

The commodity business is usually intensely competitive. Single firms don't have the market power to set prices. If firms are colluding they are breaking the law and I guess might have to pay a fine in 5 years or something.

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#202
post #29

It would be nice to see more people allowed to keep backyard chickens (hens at least, since roosters can be noisy). Since getting some at our place I’ve been surprised how fun they are to have around and easy to care for. Our compost from the kitchen goes to them too, which could help people divert scraps from the landfill or from being picked up (big gas usage) for municipal composting. Their waste is also great fer…

I've been sitting on an acre in a city that allows backyard chickens, thinking about it but doing nothing. I think this is the catalyst I need to get started on a coop. If anyone has any plans or pointers for a coop, or raising chickens in the SW, would be much appreciated.

We're on half acre and do a flock of 6 in an enclosure behind the shed. My main piece of advice is get all the infrastructure before the birds. Pay someone to build you an enclosure. Hardware cloth, NOT poultry netting/chicken wire. You need a few nesting boxes and a dry roost for them to sleep. Look up "deep litter method". Woodchips are free, high carbon bedding chicken poop is high nitrogen. The result is incredible compost. Anyway gl.

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#203
post #3

Genuine question. Does this mean that the average person can start a chicken farm today and earn massive profits? What is stopping an enterprising person from grabbing those profits?

The same thing that created the shortage in the first place: USDA regulations. If you want laying hens for personal use, no problem. As soon as you go commercial you have to follow all the rules. Edit: The takeaway is answering the post I'm replying to as to why anyone can't just start selling eggs. Edit edit: Child's axe-grinding notwithstanding, I really am just pointing out that USDA regulations are why the averag…

> If you want laying hens for personal use, no problem

Actually, even then, you'll have a problem - not from the USDA, but from your local zoning board/HOA/anybody in the government your neighbors can get in touch with.

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#205
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflation is always permanent.

Means I'm gonna have to interview prep hard next year to jump ship to a better paying company if I can and if the market allows for it, as my current one isn't in a hurry to do any salary adjustments and it hurts. Food, electricity, heating, all went up from minimum 30% to nearly doubled. Luckily my rent and doctor's bills went up only 10% so thank God about that.

I'm in the process right now of changing jobs for the same reason. The company has been losing employees left and right because of this.

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the fact that Johnson died at 64 of a heart attack somewhat ironic, or was he speaking from personal experience about the dangers of eggs (and the bacon everyone ate daily)?

I think the dietary cholesterol == bad thing is just totally wrong. Sample size of 1 but i eat about 4 eggs a day and steak almost every day but it's not processed fast food and my cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. are all _excellent_

Doesn’t it depend on ethnic background as well

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's not just eggs. My grocery bill has definitely been greatly outpacing the official inflation figures, which are already high. Double or triple that rate, I'd say.

How could we tell if the published inflation rate was just completely bullshit?

It's a transparent process. Go to the BLS website and see if the prices they're reporting don't match with what you're seeing.

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#208
Go to your local farmers' markets, find the egg person, -they might even have pictures of their chickens living in not-misery-, ask them if they deliver, get an appropriate amount of eggs for your household delivered twice a month. my guy has raised prices a little, but not like what's in this thread. good guy.

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#209
post #7

Answer: Bird flu and inflation (less so). Although I suspect in short time we'll find out that the price hikes due to "bird flu" and "inflation" become... permanent.

Inflation is always permanent.

'always permanent' seems redundant. Japan certainly has not had permanent inflation. Starting in the mid-1980 up until recently it has wavered quite a bit.

Re: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US

#210

Lydon Johnson had an answer (via George Will): In 1966, the price of eggs rose to a level that President Lyndon Johnson judged, God knows how, was too high. There were two culprits – supply and demand – and Johnson’s agriculture secretary told him there was not much that could be done. LBJ, however, was a can-do fellow who directed the US surgeon general to dampen demand by warning the nation about the hazards of cho…

Early in my career, I consulted for Coke to ensure sugar taxes failed and soda was included in food stamp funding. I say Coke's policies are evil because I saw inside the room. The first step in playbook was paying the NAACP + other civil rights groups to call opponents racist Coke gave millions to the NAACP and the Hispanic Federation - both directly and through front groups like the American Beverage Association. T…

> "We (Coke) will give you money. You need to paint opponents of us as racist."

It's funny, I heard my father-in-law parroting this when complaining about soda taxes. I also don't care for the taxes, but I don't see them as inherently racist. In fact, hearing him say this made me think that the characterization of the tax being racist is, itself, racist, as it bears the presumption that various minorities more regularly make the irresponsible personal choice of drinking soda, and this is without any data to prove it.

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