kenoodo
Lifeless Person
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 1087
Location: MengDai
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 Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:30 am Post subject: '08 forecasts: food at least 3% higher; gas up 10.7% |
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Everything is raised, except the wages.
The standard of living in 2007 is uncomfortably rising. Almost everyone is complaining about the high price of gas, but then end of 2007 does not mean it would be the ending of everything. 2008 would be even worse, read the article bellow and share you your points.
| Quote: | '08 forecasts: food at least 3% higher; gas up 10.7%
By Karen Robinson-Jacobs
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — For cash-strapped consumers already beset by higher gasoline prices and escalating mortgage rates, the hits just keep on coming. This time, it's food.
The sharp rise in food prices seen in 2007 is expected to be followed by another higher-than-normal jump next year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last week. And 2008's punch will be to the breadbasket.
Items made with wheat (breads and crackers) and soybean oil (cooking oil and fried foods) are expected to rise so much next year that they'll boost the cost of cooking at home by up to 4.5 percent — half a percentage point more than predicted just a month ago.
So pinched consumers thinking they can cut back by eating at home more will find little relief there. Home cooking remains less expensive than eating out, but the gap is closing.
This year is expected to go on record as having one of the largest increases in food prices since 1990 — a jump of 4 percent, according to USDA economists. And 2008 will bring an additional rise of at least 3 percent, according to the USDA forecast. Both rates are substantially higher than the 2.4 percent gains seen each year in 2005 and 2006 and the 1.8 percent rise in 2002.
Meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration forecasts a 17.7 percent jump in crude-oil prices next year, with a corresponding 10.7 percent boost in the price of a gallon of regular gasoline.
So just driving to the grocery will cost more.
While consumers watch grocery and gas costs increase, economists chart the rise of the pain inducers.
Ephraim Leibtag, an economist with the Economic Research Service of the USDA, spent Monday morning bumping up estimates for 2008 price increases for grocery items such as fats, cooking oils, cereals and bakery products.
The growth rate escalated beyond estimates made just a month ago after the USDA looked at November's consumer prices. Not everything is getting more expensive. The price of eggs, for example, is expected to drop next year by at least 2 percent after running up 28 percent in 2007.
But elsewhere, 2008 will be a worse year than most. With an anticipated gain of between 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent, cereals and baked goods are expected to see the biggest jump of any single food category, according to the Economic Research Service.
The 2008 price rise for the category comes on top of the 4.3 percent increase expected this year.
Leibtag said wheat costs have gone up as supplies have gone down, due in large part to a drought in Australia, a major supplier of America's wheat. (The Australian drought was earlier blamed for this year's expected 7.4 percent rise in dairy prices.)
Sara Lee Corp. has raised prices three times, for a total of 15 percent, since December 2006. The most recent increase, 5 percent, was announced Monday but may not show up on grocery goods until next year, said Mark Goldman, company spokesman.
"We're talking about prices [for wheat products] that are double, in some cases triple a year and a half ago," Goldman said. Inflation is hitting the whole-grain breads health-conscious consumers have been favoring.
Meanwhile, the price for oils, especially soybean oil, is expected to climb 5 percent to 6 percent as soybean farmers — seeking ample waves of gain — switch to corn.
Corn farmers are reaping higher prices as more corn is diverted from animal feed to fuel.
But the ethanol infusion is not enough to keep gas prices from rising.
The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration is looking for the benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil to average $84.83 a barrel in 2008, up from the $72.05 it averaged this year and 50 percent above the 2005 level.
Crude counts for an increasing share of the price of a gallon of gasoline. It translated to 59 percent of the cost of a gallon of regular gas in 2005, when the average price per gallon was $2.27. In 2008, a gallon of regular gas is expected to average $3.11, with the cost of crude making up 65 percent of the cost, according to Energy Department figures.
The balance of the cost of gasoline is tied to such factors as refining and taxes.
While consumers can't go out and drill for oil, Rayola Dougher, a senior economist with the American Petroleum Institute, notes that measures such as keeping tires properly inflated, not carrying extra weight and slowing down can save fuel.
"If you stack these things up, it can make a difference at the pump," she said.
And those changes won't affect your life as much as cutting out food.
Dallas Morning News staff writer Pamela Yip contributed to this article.
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coralvalley
Lifeless Person
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 918
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| Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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Unfortunately it feels like the whole style of living has changed so drastically over the last few years that you can feel it's impact in the communities everywhere. The housing situation is a shining example of just how bad things truly are. There are more home foreclosures in the area right now than there has ever been and at one time when it seemed like you were able to have your home as something that you could make value off of it in the long run, but things are just so awful it's not happening. Three years ago one of my family members decided to move into a home in another neighborhood and at the time he bought a house that cost him $400,000 and it was worth a bit more than that, so he thought he was getting a deal. However, when he decided to downsize because of the economy they told him that the same house that should have been worth more than what he purchased for it would only sell for about $230,000 in this market, which is such a dramatic decrease that he had no choice, but to stay there and take on the high mortgage payments because he would have to take a huge loss in selling that way. He would barely break even.
It saddens me to see how the world is changing because while I am sure that there reasons why the economy is so bad, the fact to the matter is for the worker who is out there just starting out or working for just barely above minimum wage, they cannot afford to find a place to live, let alone eat. It's almost as if there is a choice of paying your bills or having a meal and that is really sad. Granted I know that is not how it is for everyone, but with a lot of people being laid off around here or being given cutbacks, it is a really sad state of the economy and that article just reinforces just how bad things are getting. Hopefully one day in the not so distant future things will find a way to turn themselves around. |
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