Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US • Hacker News Board

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

#271

Post by grumple » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:14 PM UTC

amalgamated_inc wrote: post #59

mandmandam wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Down 0.4 - after a 3.8% rise the year previous. Not exactly the strongest counterexample I've ever seen, though (barely) technically correct. And the last deflationary "period" (a single year) before that was ... drumroll... 1949, following 3 years of >8% inflation.

It's called the ratchet effect. The government doesn't like giving your money back. That's why taxes almost never go down, either - e.g. the "temporary" income tax that only affects the richest 1% of people..

Taxes have been going down consistently for 50 years in the US.

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

#272

Post by legerdemain » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:15 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #241

ar_lan wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Coke's position was clear: soda is one of the cheapest ways to get calories - a flagrantly inaccurate statement when factoring in the health consequences. I'm always amazed at how many people flat out get angry with me when I say fast food is simply not cheaper than cooking yourself, provided you have a kitchen. I'm consistently told that that level of thinking is necessarily classist (and therefore racist), becaus…

I've heard the same thing, and I usually respond with prices of decent, filling food at the grocery store - like potatoes, a can of beans, a bag of apples, etc. As for cooking, you can buy a used microwave at the thrift store for about what a soft taco costs at Taco Time.

Apples don't contribute much to a healthy diet: they're sweet, acidic enough to damage tooth enamel, and packed with fructose. You'd be much better off leaving fruit out of your diet and occasionally treating yourself to a little bit of brown rice or raw broccoli in between your meals of beans and potatoes.

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

#273

Post by jackattackx » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:16 PM UTC

scifibestfi wrote: post #137

ksherlock wrote: post #22

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…

I guess they're doing the same mud-slinging with gas-stoves today.

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

#274

Post by yterdy » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:17 PM UTC

ar_lan wrote: post #232

scifibestfi wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Coke's position was clear: soda is one of the cheapest ways to get calories - a flagrantly inaccurate statement when factoring in the health consequences. I'm always amazed at how many people flat out get angry with me when I say fast food is simply not cheaper than cooking yourself, provided you have a kitchen. I'm consistently told that that level of thinking is necessarily classist (and therefore racist), becaus…

>I do not understand

Well, that's an easy fix. Ask your employer to cut your salary to ~$20k-$30k. Tell them that you're going to be in the office at 7 on-the-dot, and he can write you up if you're 5 minutes early or late; you're going to be there for 8-10 hours, w/ a 30-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks (again, write-ups for taking even a minute longer than alotted). Sell your car, get a used one (financed, of course), model year before 2012, 80k miles minimum; give the profit away (give away any savings you have, too; you can't access any of your retirement or investment accounts, either). Insist that any credit you have access to be cut severely and the rates jacked up. Sell anything you own other than your car that's worth more than $2k, give the money away. You are also now limited to going 20-30 minutes out of your way to the "good" grocery store, since you are moving to a food desert. Your mattress now comes in a box from Wal-Mart; get rid of any sleep or wake-up aids other than your cell phone. Hard mode: separate from your spouse, if you have one, and adopt as many kids as you need to get to 2 or 3.

People are not making poor individual choices. They are, collectively, subject to perverse incentives that are imposed by a regulatory-industrial complex that profits from the ill health they develop when behaving as might be expected of any normal human being of the past two centuries. Thank you for being frustrated at the state of the world; it means that you recognize that there are improvements to be made. First step: stop blaming the wrong people.

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

#275

Post by sequoia » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:18 PM UTC

eftychis wrote: post #155

sequoia wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a huge proponent of backyard chickens and had them for years, but they are, generally speaking, not a "more cost effective" way to get eggs, at least in north america if you are feeding them mostly store-bought feed. Then again, this change in egg prices may change that. But they're great for redundancy (more & varied egg supply reduces the impact of supply chain shocks), to get the best quality eggs you can, and…

I am curious about that statement. Feeding chickens store bought food that is. I grew up with chickens being the garbage disposal. They will eat anything and everything. They are the cheapest animal to raise for food. (Except maybe cattle on the old west when you could parasite off the public land.) The argument against backyard chickens would be health considerations i'd say, not cost. Curious.

Most "back yard" chicken operations do not have adequate area to graze more than a bit. Even if you do, you'd probably need feed to get eggs regularly. I've never heard of anyone raising layers without feeding them.

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

#276

Post by snapcaster » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:21 PM UTC

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #261

snapcaster wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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_

I agree that the cholesterol factor seems pretty well debunked, but I think the mistake originally appeared because dietary cholesterol is typically present with saturated and trans fats. These are known to typically function as a lever for blood lipid levels. If you eat them, your blood lipids will temporarily rise and gradually fall. The fact that this doesn’t become chronic for you seems abnormal (but great), and…

Thanks for the thoughtful response

>If you were getting that much egg and beef from McDonald’s you would likely be buried in the ground by now.

This is my hunch too, when i really got serious about my diet and health I was worried eating all these eggs and meat was going to cause issues so made sure to get blood tests etc. This sort of started me down the rabbit hole of realizing that almost every single thing I had ever been told about nutrition was either misleading or just flat out wrong.

The gut biome stuff is fascinating to me and it feels like it's so underexplored. Can't wait to see what kinds of things we learn about it.

One reason I don't think i'm as optimistic as you is that it feels like society doesn't want us to understand this stuff. Between the billion dollar companies influencing regulations, massive marketing budgets of these food-poison companies, and then even the populace doesn't want to know the truth. Everyone just wants to cope and complain and do stupid fad diets instead of learn or change anything.

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

#277

Post by paxys » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:24 PM UTC

bigtex wrote: post #36

My wife has a cottage baking business and would buy 15 dozen eggs from Costco Business Center. Already high, a few months back in cost about $45 for the box. Just last week it was $110. She doesn't recall but it fairly certain the box was between $20-30 before inflation hit. However she said they had chicken legs that were .49/lb which is a great price but hard to reconcile with the narrative that avian flu is the ca…

I buy a dozen eggs for $3-5 in the middle of San Francisco. If your wife is paying double that, that too for bulk orders, then she is definitely doing something wrong. She can literally shop at Whole Foods and save money.

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

#278

Post by WarOnPrivacy » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:25 PM UTC

ar_lan wrote: post #232

scifibestfi wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Coke's position was clear: soda is one of the cheapest ways to get calories - a flagrantly inaccurate statement when factoring in the health consequences. I'm always amazed at how many people flat out get angry with me when I say fast food is simply not cheaper than cooking yourself, provided you have a kitchen. I'm consistently told that that level of thinking is necessarily classist (and therefore racist), becaus…

> I'm always amazed at how many people flat out get angry with me when I say fast food is simply not cheaper than cooking yourself, provided you have a kitchen.

I think the challenge here is looking at numbers without factoring in reality.

A common scenario in poverty is money isn't available when it's needed. If one has $4 today for food now and will have $4 more tomorrow, their choices are to forgo eating until they can save up the ingredients or buy whatever food can be had today.

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

#279

Post by paxys » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:27 PM UTC

lacrosse_tannin wrote: post #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.

Eggs also last a lot longer than people think. You can buy a 24 or 48 pack from your grocery store and store it for at least a month past the date printed on the box with no problems.

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

#280

Post by leni536 » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 6:28 PM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #163

captainredbeard wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Broilers are different breeds than layers and “spent hens” tend to only get eaten by farmers, etc, because of the raised risk of deboning error and undesirably tough meat

I've heard they make excellent slow cook recipes like stew, soup, braise though :)

They apsolutely make excellent stock. I'm Hungarian and spent hen stock is quite commonky eaten in Hungary. Unfortunately spent hen is quite hard to source in the UK, where I am now.