Year-Over-Year Food Prices

• At Home: 12.4 Percent
• Away From Home: 8.4 Percent
• Food and Beverage: 9.2 Percent 

We have not seen anything like this since 1981.

CPI Six Food Categories Year-Over-Year 

Six Food Categories Percent Change From a Year Ago

• Meat, Poultry, Fish, Eggs: 6.8 Percent
• Cereals, Bakery: 14.6 Percent
• Dairy: 12.3 Percent
• Fruits and Vegetables: 5.3 Percent
• Beverages: 12.3 Percent 
• Other Food at Home: 12.4 Percent 

Month-Over-Month 

Please note the cost of eating out has gone up 0.6 percent or more in 18 out of the last 22 months with a minimum rise of 0.3 percent only once. 

Q&A What Can the Fed Do About This?

• Grow Food?
• Produce Fertilizer?
• Make Rain Where Needed?
• Cure Bird Flu?
• Lay Eggs?
• Quit En Masse and Work for McDonalds?

The Fed's approach is to reduce the cost of labor by causing a recession so that people stop eating out. This will not reduce the price of labor (wages will not go down) nor will it do anything for the cost of food itself.

Well, that's OK because Senator Elizabeth Warren knows precisely what to do and who to blame.

Warren Calls on Top Five Egg Producers to Explain Recent Egg Price Hikes

On February 16, Senator Warren issued this press release: Warren Calls on Top Five Egg Producers to Explain Recent Egg Price Hikes

Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Katie Porter (D.-Calif.) sent letters to top egg-producing companies calling on them to provide answers about the elevated price of eggs and the extent to which egg producers may be using fears about avian flu and supply shocks as a cover to pad their own profits. In the letters, the lawmakers note that in the midst of record-high egg prices, Cal-Maine, the largest egg producer in the US, announced a 65% increase in profits while reporting no cases of avian flu. They ask the companies to provide transparency about the rationale for increasing egg prices and the financial impact to the companies. The letters were sent to Rose Acre Farms, Cal-Maine Foods, Hillandale Farms, Versova Management and Daybreak Foods. 

Meanwhile, the USDA reported 43.3 million commercial layer hens and one million pullets were depopulated due to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in 2022. The numbers for market eggs totaled 306 million, down 6% year over year.

When there are cases of HPAI, producers kill the entire flock. 

Cal-Maine had a huge profit precisely because it had no cases of bird flu but the demand for eggs did not decline. 

Is Warren really as economically illiterate as she sounds, or is this another political stunt?

Nothing Tame About the CPI, Just Elation Over Interest Rate Hike Odds

For the rest of the February CPI details, please see Nothing Tame About the CPI, Just Elation Over Interest Rate Hike Odds.

Rent was particularly hot.

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