Inflation!

[Ugeauxgirl]

I went to the store this afternoon to buy a few things including a bucket of lard. It has gone from about $14 when I started soaping (about 18 months ago) to $20 now. Ouch! Olive oil hasn't gone up nearly as much around here and is now cheaper than lard. Considering that most butchers toss pork fat, it's kind of surprising. I'm either going to have to use less in my recipes, make less soap, or render my own. Sheesh.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I'm either going to have to use less in my recipes, make less soap, or render my own.

Or raise your prices.

 

[Ugeauxgirl]

Well since I've been giving it away, I guess I could start charging a little something...

 

[AliOop]

I actually can't get my super-low-priced hog fat from my friendly local butcher any longer. I think he's found a good market for it and is no longer giving it away.

 

[Catscankim]

Prices of everything have gone up, thats why I have started growing food and saving seeds as of late. I saw oranges at the supermarket for $4 each. I'm in FLORIDA!! I frequently see orange trucks driving on their way to the Tropicana plant, and the oranges just bounce out all over the place onto the road (or hitting your car). I'm like $4, $4, $4... One time a truck hit a big bump and all these oranges popped out. So I pulled over and picked them up lol.

Hate to be a chicken little, but something is going on. I feel like the world is in a very bad spot right now. We crafters are going to be the only ones left with something to contribute. Mask shortage: I made my own. Food shortage/high prices: I grow my own. Who knows how to make soap and other essential BB products? WE do. Who has enough soap to supply the world right out of their closet, WE do LOL.

Living in Florida, we are accustomed to stockpiling because of hurricanes. But lately it is a new weird vibe. I order a lot of seeds online. I had a bunch in my online cart on Wenesday awaiting payday on Friday. When I went back to check out, they were all out of stock. Zero potato or sweet potato slips. No eggplant. The stuff that was in stock went from $2/$3 a package of seeds, to $5 or even $8. This was a matter of days. Free shipping, to $14 shipping. And honestly, they are seeds. The last order I got from them they shipped in envelopes with postage stamps... and go to big box store like lowes, all they have are ornamental plants and rows of basil, mint, and tomatoes. Nothing really sustainable in the Florida garden. It gets hot here...tomatoes are hard to grow.

The grocery store was out of milk and half and half yesterday. Do you know that florida is the biggest cattle state, even above texas? Yet here we are, no milk. I had to buy almond milk. I mean, I like almond milk. But its not a good replacement for my half and half in coffee. When Covid started, they were dumping milk..You drive across route 70 near tropicana, the orange groves and dairy cows....why can't we get any of this?? Mac Arthur dairy farm is right there (amongst others), why don't we get any Mac Arthur milk, or half and half, or cream??

 

[Relle]

Iceberg lettuce here are now $12. I'm not paying that for lettuce, it's because of all the rain we had.

 

[dibbles]

I live in MN. Our growing season is from May (if we're lucky) through September. I quit canning years ago, but I do freeze squash and tomatoes. I make big batches of stuffed peppers and freeze those, but that's about all I do other than the occasional jam. I'd love to be able to have something growing all year, but I will agree that there is nothing that can compare to a home-grown tomato.

I notice random shortages at the grocery store. It's been pasta for the last couple of months. About 2 months ago, there was no almond milk one week, and a very limited supply the next week. Since then it's been readily available again. I buy yogurt for both my hubby and myself. The choice of flavors he likes isn't always available.

But it's better than it was during the early pandemic days. At least here, anyway. And what used to cost $75 is now closer to $100.

 

[earlene]

Some of the current shortages got even worse when Russia invaded the Ukraine and the ongoing war is impacting the global supply chain. We noticed it right away here. Added on top of the shortages from prolonged effects of CoVid and climate change, having 2 major exporters of wheat & other grains at war with each other, what can we expect? In a global community, of which we are a part, these types of things impact all of us, eventually.

Yesterday I planted onions. Red onions & white onions, my two favorite types of onions to buy. It's not that I expect a shortage of onions (but who knows, right?), but the price of the bulbs was good & I am hoping they don't get too soggy with all the rain we keep having. It rains here a lot in the summer; I'm still not used to it after living here for 17 years.

That and potatoes are all I am growing this year. I just travel too much to grow things that need daily or weekly attention, so we'll see how it goes with onions & potatoes. Even during CoVid, I did not grow anything but stinging nettle and that wasn't something I planted myself; it just grew, so I harvested it & make nettle soup with it sometimes. I even infused some oil to make soap with, just for the heck of it.

I recall when the price of lettuce was so high my auntie said she wouldn't buy it. My mom said to her elder sister, you choose to deprive your family of a well-balanced diet over the price of lettuce? My mom's sister was married to an executive of a major milk brand in Southern California at the time and we all considered them to be very rich, and my mom followed the nutritional recommendations of the USDA back then. She planned her meals based on the Basic 7, later to become the Basic 4 Food Groups. She was adamant that meals be well balanced and salad was served at least once, sometimes twice a day in our home. Not to buy lettuce was something my mom would never have condoned. And she certainly could not understand why someone with money to burn cared how much lettuce cost in the first place.

Someone posted here a few months ago that globally the price of all oils was going to go up, and I am not surprised to see that it is happening.

Does anyone remember a time when the price of gas was less than 20¢ per gallon? I do. I was about 8 years old. We were driving to visit my dad's sister in Southern Oregon. Gas was 16.9¢ per gallon at this one station where we stopped. It always amazes me that I even paid attention to the price of gasoline at that age, but this is one thing I have never forgotten because it seemed pretty remarkable at the time; or perhaps it was my parents' comments about it that sealed it in my memory. I think the average price of gas in California at the time was closer to 30¢ per gallon. It went up to $1.00 per gallon (where I lived in California) during OPEC in the early 70's. My second son was a still a baby; the lines to get gas were extremely long. I was knitting a blue baby blanket while waiting in line for gasoline. I don't think we even pumped our own gas in California yet before OPEC. As I recall, it was after that that we started seeing the loss of gas jockey jobs and an increase in self-service pumps at gas stations in California.

Global economic impact. It will always be with us.

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

I remember the gas shortage back in the 70s. I was living in San Francisco at the time and we had to wait hours in long lines to get gas. And the price hovered at 99¢ for a while because the pumps had to be renovated to accommodate the extra digit to charge $1.00.

 

[dibbles]

I need to order sodium citrate. The price has more than doubled for what I bought last time! I need to look around a little.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Iceberg lettuce here are now $12. I'm not paying that for lettuce,

When we visited Australia in '88 we saw "rocket" salad everywhere. Later we learned "rocket" was arugula which was just coming in vogue in the USA at the time. LUV it! And much more nutritious than Iceburg, I can't remember the last time I bought iceburg. I can't help but wonder what the cost of arugala is there? Just curious.

Zero potato or sweet potato slips.

I don't know if this will play in Florida but, right now, if I put potatoes or yams in my potato bin, loose, they start growing "eyes" within a week or two. Dig a 14" hole, add the potato/yam, thrown in some manure or compost, and cover them up. You might want to double check those directions, just like you would the lye amount in any shared soap recipe, but you should be harvesting them late fall.

 

[cmzaha]

The 50# blocks of lard I used to pay $27 for at Smart & Final are now $67. I am glad I decided to retire from selling. The blocks of Tallow Shortening went from approx $35 to $69 last time I looked. I posted a while back what my CO went up to for the 35lb buckets from the will-call supplier, it over tripled in price along with PKO. I used to pay around $27-30 for 35 lbs of CO now it is over $100 from the same supplier.

This severely takes the profit out of a $7 bar of soap.

ETA: Sunflower HO from $35 for 35 lbs to $150. I just checked Cibaria soap Supply, which was my bulk will-call supplier for yrs.

 

[AliOop]

The other issue is the COVID lockdown in Shanghai. For some reason, this isn't featured as much on the news as the issues with wheat from Russia and Ukraine. Shanghai has the world's largest container port, and the lockdown has stopped the flow of goods in, out, and through this port. In addition, the production of food and goods from China was also severely interrupted.

For those of you who enjoy lettuce, it's very easy to grow outdoors in cool weather, and indoors in hot weather. I just harvested a huge bag of the last of my outdoor lettuce, since it was all starting to bolt. I'll be planting more indoors in the next week or so, and also harvesting, cooking, and canning from my ginormous rhubarb plant.

Sadly, our strawberries and tomatoes aren't faring so well in all the rain, and the beets are struggling. Thankfully, the blueberries are looking pretty good. Anything we can grow ourselves takes a little bit of pressure off the mounting grocery bills.

 

[Relle]

When we visited Australia in '88 we saw "rocket" salad everywhere. Later we learned "rocket" was arugula which was just coming in vogue in the USA at the time. LUV it! And much more nutritious than Iceburg, I can't remember the last time I bought iceburg. I can't help but wonder what the cost of arugala is there? Just curious.

Rocket is $2 for a 60g bag. I don't like rocket so wouldn't buy it anyway. I tend to buy mignonette lettuce with the roots on and then plant it when nearly finished to get more out of it. Rabbit food has nearly doubled in price, that is something I have to have, ( she's fussy). I can at least pick her dandelions from the yard.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

A few years back I grew Spring mix -- baby lettuce variety -- in a half whiskey barrel container. I got 2 harvests out of it. Seeded early spring and again about this time of year, late spring. We enjoyed fresh picked colorful salads well into the fall.

Spring mix is a little lighter in texture and flavor than arugula. The exact mixture varies from brand to brand, but most spring mixes contain lettuces, arugula and spinach. Spring mix also tends to include “baby greens,” meaning they are picked just a few weeks after their seeds are planted. Not only are they more tender, they also have a bounty of nutrients, because the plant is still feeding them lots of energy for growth.

 

[TheGecko]

I know that it seems like Covid has been around FOR-E-VER and now that it's over, everything should be back to 'normal'. Except 1) Covid restrictions only just ended...for my state, it's only been 90 days. 2) There has been a huge amount of damage done to the 'supply chain' and it's going to take time...I figure as long as two years...before things come back to anything approaching 'normal', but it won't be the same.

As an example, @Catscankim mentioned that her store was out of milk and half & half...how is that possible? It's like this...I have a 1000 head of dairy cows and better than half of my milk goes to supply milk to schools and restaurants and the rest goes to grocery stores and producers of dairy products. Covid comes along and shuts down schools and restaurants. Now all of a sudden I have milk that no one wants to buy...or rather no one can buy because the factories that produce the 8 oz cartons of milk for schools or those 12 gallon bags of milk for restaurants...it's not like they can just retool and start making gallon and quart containers because no one is going to want to buy a ton of cartons or can utilize those bags. So I end up dumping half of my milk. And of course, this brings up another problem...I have a 1000 dairy cows. They need to eat, they need to poop and they need to be milked. Only how am I supposed to keep feeding them, keep cleaning up their poop and keep milking them when I can longer afford to since I just lost over half of my income? I can't. So I am forced to start selling off my herd. And since I'm not the only one, I'm not getting a lot of money for them.

So here we are...the schools are recently reopened, restaurants have reopened and everyone wants milk except...I only have 500 cows now. And you can demand all you want, but my cows only give xx amount of milk per day. And it's not like I can just go out and buy a bunch of new cows...there aren't any because 1) they don't grow on trees and 2) they aren't cheap because there are thousands of other dairies across the country also needing cows. Maybe if I take out a third mortgage, I can pick up a cow or two or maybe I can get a few heifers...and then raise them to adult, and then breed them, and then wait until after the calf is born. But it's going to be a couple of years before I have a 1000 dairy cows again. And that's if my farm survived...a lot of them didn't.

Folks think that the employee shortage is do to 'low wages", but even as employers offer more money, there are still no takers. I believe that it is because discovered what my ex-husband and I did when we had our second child...that by the time we subtracted costs of transportation, clothing, food, daycare and tax liability from my wages, and added in the costs of me staying home...there really wasn't that much left over, and someone else was raising our children 9 to 10 hours a day. So I quit, and I did what women (and men) have always done over the centuries...I started "working" from home. I started a small sewing business, I told Tupperware a couple of nights a week and I did daycare (just six kids and I kept my rates low). I ended up making more money than I did working outside the home, the kids got a parent at home, everyone ate healthier and I wasn't exhausted at night.

I drove past our local "farmer's market" on Saturday...it was packed. I haven't seen so many vendors since I was in high school doing Flea Markets with my grandparents. Unfortunately I didn't have time to stop, but from what I could see...there were lots of 'home crafts'.

 

[melinda48]

Some of the current shortages got even worse when Russia invaded the Ukraine and the ongoing war is impacting the global supply chain. We noticed it right away here. Added on top of the shortages from prolonged effects of CoVid and climate change, having 2 major exporters of wheat & other grains at war with each other, what can we expect? In a global community, of which we are a part, these types of things impact all of us, eventually.

Yesterday I planted onions. Red onions & white onions, my two favorite types of onions to buy. It's not that I expect a shortage of onions (but who knows, right?), but the price of the bulbs was good & I am hoping they don't get too soggy with all the rain we keep having. It rains here a lot in the summer; I'm still not used to it after living here for 17 years.

That and potatoes are all I am growing this year. I just travel too much to grow things that need daily or weekly attention, so we'll see how it goes with onions & potatoes. Even during CoVid, I did not grow anything but stinging nettle and that wasn't something I planted myself; it just grew, so I harvested it & make nettle soup with it sometimes. I even infused some oil to make soap with, just for the heck of it.

I recall when the price of lettuce was so high my auntie said she wouldn't buy it. My mom said to her elder sister, you choose to deprive your family of a well-balanced diet over the price of lettuce? My mom's sister was married to an executive of a major milk brand in Southern California at the time and we all considered them to be very rich, and my mom followed the nutritional recommendations of the USDA back then. She planned her meals based on the Basic 7, later to become the Basic 4 Food Groups. She was adamant that meals be well balanced and salad was served at least once, sometimes twice a day in our home. Not to buy lettuce was something my mom would never have condoned. And she certainly could not understand why someone with money to burn cared how much lettuce cost in the first place.

Someone posted here a few months ago that globally the price of all oils was going to go up, and I am not surprised to see that it is happening.

Does anyone remember a time when the price of gas was less than 20¢ per gallon? I do. I was about 8 years old. We were driving to visit my dad's sister in Southern Oregon. Gas was 16.9¢ per gallon at this one station where we stopped. It always amazes me that I even paid attention to the price of gasoline at that age, but this is one thing I have never forgotten because it seemed pretty remarkable at the time; or perhaps it was my parents' comments about it that sealed it in my memory. I think the average price of gas in California at the time was closer to 30¢ per gallon. It went up to $1.00 per gallon (where I lived in California) during OPEC in the early 70's. My second son was a still a baby; the lines to get gas were extremely long. I was knitting a blue baby blanket while waiting in line for gasoline. I don't think we even pumped our own gas in California yet before OPEC. As I recall, it was after that that we started seeing the loss of gas jockey jobs and an increase in self-service pumps at gas stations in California.

Global economic impact. It will always be with us.

And, of course, because we, here in the US can no longer extract adequate natural gas (which is required/critical for fertilizer production), our farmers are going to have smaller crops and so there will be less produce, less feed for cattle and other livestock, less food for people. Do you know that studying the effects man has on weather only began in 1850? There was no weather service before that time and, therefore, we are not clear on the long-term effects we are having (other than the obvious one - pollution). Here our government is pushing so hard for electric vehicles that we are looking forward to rolling blackouts this summer due to lack of natural gas; we do not yet have a way to recycle lithium batteries used in electric cars; cannot even recycle the wind power blades (they are being buried in the desert). We are decimating our earth mining lithium. And now, Russia is trying to take Ukraine which has disrupted not only the delivery of those things we need but is devastating two countries (Ukraine and Russia). I have several friends who are Russian but were born in Ukraine and who are saddened/embarrassed/crushed by what is going on. The world is a mess - This is a man-made problem alright but not in the way we may initially think.

Rocket is $2 for a 60g bag. I don't like rocket so wouldn't buy it anyway. I tend to buy mignonette lettuce with the roots on and then plant it when nearly finished to get more out of it. Rabbit food has nearly doubled in price, that is something I have to have, ( she's fussy). I can at least pick her dandelions from the yard.
View attachment 67216

I used to buy Iceburg when we were newly married and had no money to speak of - it was always inexpensive. It has, however, been years since then. I love Arugula - love that it is peppery-tasting! I did no know that Rocket is Arugula. Cool post!

I know that it seems like Covid has been around FOR-E-VER and now that it's over, everything should be back to 'normal'. Except 1) Covid restrictions only just ended...for my state, it's only been 90 days. 2) There has been a huge amount of damage done to the 'supply chain' and it's going to take time...I figure as long as two years...before things come back to anything approaching 'normal', but it won't be the same.

As an example, @Catscankim mentioned that her store was out of milk and half & half...how is that possible? It's like this...I have a 1000 head of dairy cows and better than half of my milk goes to supply milk to schools and restaurants and the rest goes to grocery stores and producers of dairy products. Covid comes along and shuts down schools and restaurants. Now all of a sudden I have milk that no one wants to buy...or rather no one can buy because the factories that produce the 8 oz cartons of milk for schools or those 12 gallon bags of milk for restaurants...it's not like they can just retool and start making gallon and quart containers because no one is going to want to buy a ton of cartons or can utilize those bags. So I end up dumping half of my milk. And of course, this brings up another problem...I have a 1000 dairy cows. They need to eat, they need to poop and they need to be milked. Only how am I supposed to keep feeding them, keep cleaning up their poop and keep milking them when I can longer afford to since I just lost over half of my income? I can't. So I am forced to start selling off my herd. And since I'm not the only one, I'm not getting a lot of money for them.

So here we are...the schools are recently reopened, restaurants have reopened and everyone wants milk except...I only have 500 cows now. And you can demand all you want, but my cows only give xx amount of milk per day. And it's not like I can just go out and buy a bunch of new cows...there aren't any because 1) they don't grow on trees and 2) they aren't cheap because there are thousands of other dairies across the country also needing cows. Maybe if I take out a third mortgage, I can pick up a cow or two or maybe I can get a few heifers...and then raise them to adult, and then breed them, and then wait until after the calf is born. But it's going to be a couple of years before I have a 1000 dairy cows again. And that's if my farm survived...a lot of them didn't.

Folks think that the employee shortage is do to 'low wages", but even as employers offer more money, there are still no takers. I believe that it is because discovered what my ex-husband and I did when we had our second child...that by the time we subtracted costs of transportation, clothing, food, daycare and tax liability from my wages, and added in the costs of me staying home...there really wasn't that much left over, and someone else was raising our children 9 to 10 hours a day. So I quit, and I did what women (and men) have always done over the centuries...I started "working" from home. I started a small sewing business, I told Tupperware a couple of nights a week and I did daycare (just six kids and I kept my rates low). I ended up making more money than I did working outside the home, the kids got a parent at home, everyone ate healthier and I wasn't exhausted at night.

I drove past our local "farmer's market" on Saturday...it was packed. I haven't seen so many vendors since I was in high school doing Flea Markets with my grandparents. Unfortunately I didn't have time to stop, but from what I could see...there were lots of 'home crafts'.

First, I am so sorry you have had to make these tough decisions. I think your post clearly explains the consequences of these short-sighted shut downs. Now we know that has Covid has reached endemic proportions and will always be with us (just like the flu), we are going to have to (or we should) reexamine our response to these sorts of occurrences. People no longer consider the complete chain of supply when they make decisions to “help” us.

 

[melinda48]

I live in MN. Our growing season is from May (if we're lucky) through September. I quit canning years ago, but I do freeze squash and tomatoes. I make big batches of stuffed peppers and freeze those, but that's about all I do other than the occasional jam. I'd love to be able to have something growing all year, but I will agree that there is nothing that can compare to a home-grown tomato.

I notice random shortages at the grocery store. It's been pasta for the last couple of months. About 2 months ago, there was no almond milk one week, and a very limited supply the next week. Since then it's been readily available again. I buy yogurt for both my hubby and myself. The choice of flavors he likes isn't always available.

But it's better than it was during the early pandemic days. At least here, anyway. And what used to cost $75 is now closer to $100.

I have been buying flour so that I can make pasta, bread, buns, etc.; rice. I do can and will can more this year and hope it is enough. Our daughter had a friend who wants to learn to can and so I will help her learn. If we know how to “do things,” I think it is incumbent on us to teach others - especially now. Let’s all see how we can help each other get through this mess.

 

[TheGecko]

First, I am so sorry you have had to make these tough decisions. I think your post clearly explains the consequences of these short-sighted shut downs. Now we know that has Covid has reached endemic proportions and will always be with us (just like the flu), we are going to have to (or we should) reexamine our response to these sorts of occurrences. People no longer consider the complete chain of supply when they make decisions to “help” us.

Oh no no no...I don't really own dairy cattle, but I did grow up on a dairy farm and I understand the consequences. I'm also an accountant and saw the consequences, good, bad and unintended, among our various clients.

I don't think the shut-downs were necessarily short-sighted...Covid IS spread through contact and people were dying...we know that physical distancing worked because it did slow it down, but with all the political male bovine excrement that was taking place, calling it 'social distancing' and the heavy-handiness of all...Americans don't like being told what to do in the first place and it's worse when it's their own government. People forgot that this country was founded in rebellion and I'm not just talking about our forefathers, but those that came before them. My father's ancestor came to the "American Colonies" in the mid-1600...not that he had a lot of choice, he was a bit of a black-sheep...his family sent him here. Even the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower were 'rebels'.

Even had our government been in complete agreement and had the full cooperation of our population, it wouldn't have changed the supply chain issues because we have become dependent on imports. At least half of the stuff (probably more) that comes INTO this country comes from China...and they were the first to be hit with Covid. We'll never know just how bad in was there, but common sense says it was really bad...not only were they the first hit, but they have four times the population.

But anyhoo...folks think that there is just an endless supply of stuff sitting in warehouses, but the reality is is that stuff is going out as fast as it is coming in; there really aren't any warehouses...storage facilities if you will...just 'distribution centers'. When you go to the grocery store...what you see is pretty much what there is...at best there is a 3-day supply. You go to Home Depot or Lowe's...same thing. You go to Auto Zone or Pep Boys...same thing. You go to JC Penny's or Macy's...same thing. You go to Costco or Sam's Club...same thing. You to your local furniture store or appliance store...same thing. You go to Office Depot/Max or Staples...same thing.

My story of the dairy farm...it was the same for everything because everything is connected. There is absolutely no reason why this country cannot be self-sufficient, in fact, once upon a time we were a major exporter. But we got lazy and stupid and greedy. You'd think we had learned a hard lesson these past two years, but we have learned nothing other than to beat our breasts and cry "oh woe is me" as we blame everyone else but ourselves for the fine mess that we are in.

I have been buying flour so that I can make pasta, bread, buns, etc.; rice. I do can and will can more this year and hope it is enough. Our daughter had a friend who wants to learn to can and so I will help her learn. If we know how to “do things,” I think it is incumbent on us to teach others - especially now. Let’s all see how we can help each other get through this mess.

Unfortunately I have no real room for a garden, but now that the Farmer's Markets are back, I plan to get into canning this Fall.

I agree about teaching others...we've lost so much information because we have gotten into the habit of just being able to buy anything we want from the store. I know how to can and dehydrate. I can sew, loom knit, needle knit and crochet. I know how to grow food, but am a bit light on foraging. I know basic first aid and CPR and some home remedies. I can cook/bake just about anything from "scratch". I can't shoot Bambi or chop the head off Chicken Little, but I can dress them. I can milk a cow and make butter and cheese. Oh...and I can make soap.

 

[melinda48]

Oh no no no...I don't really own dairy cattle, but I did grow up on a dairy farm and I understand the consequences. I'm also an accountant and saw the consequences, good, bad and unintended, among our various clients.

I don't think the shut-downs were necessarily short-sighted...Covid IS spread through contact and people were dying...we know that physical distancing worked because it did slow it down, but with all the political male bovine excrement that was taking place, calling it 'social distancing' and the heavy-handiness of all...Americans don't like being told what to do in the first place and it's worse when it's their own government. People forgot that this country was founded in rebellion and I'm not just talking about our forefathers, but those that came before them. My father's ancestor came to the "American Colonies" in the mid-1600...not that he had a lot of choice, he was a bit of a black-sheep...his family sent him here. Even the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower were 'rebels'.

Even had our government been in complete agreement and had the full cooperation of our population, it wouldn't have changed the supply chain issues because we have become dependent on imports. At least half of the stuff (probably more) that comes INTO this country comes from China...and they were the first to be hit with Covid. We'll never know just how bad in was there, but common sense says it was really bad...not only were they the first hit, but they have four times the population.

But anyhoo...folks think that there is just an endless supply of stuff sitting in warehouses, but the reality is is that stuff is going out as fast as it is coming in; there really aren't any warehouses...storage facilities if you will...just 'distribution centers'. When you go to the grocery store...what you see is pretty much what there is...at best there is a 3-day supply. You go to Home Depot or Lowe's...same thing. You go to Auto Zone or Pep Boys...same thing. You go to JC Penny's or Macy's...same thing. You go to Costco or Sam's Club...same thing. You to your local furniture store or appliance store...same thing. You go to Office Depot/Max or Staples...same thing.

My story of the dairy farm...it was the same for everything because everything is connected. There is absolutely no reason why this country cannot be self-sufficient, in fact, once upon a time we were a major exporter. But we got lazy and stupid and greedy. You'd think we had learned a hard lesson these past two years, but we have learned nothing other than to beat our breasts and cry "oh woe is me" as we blame everyone else but ourselves for the fine mess that we are in.

Excellent points! You are right on regarding our dependence on foreign goods and we can and must change that dynamic!