Been to the grocery store this week?

I ask that because I think the purchase of everyday commodities like groceries serves as a better gauge on what's going on with the economy than all those fancy think tanks and polls. Last week, before New Year's Eve, I bought steak and shrimp and some veggies for me and my husband's annual steak and shrimp dinner. We've done this since we were newlyweds. Many times we ate while watching Dick Clark on TV with our kids gamboling around us.

This year, we spent about $90 on last week's groceries. That includes cleaning stuff, paper towels, toilet paper, you know, the basics. While this price ticked up around Thanksgiving when we were fixing a big supper, that's been the average. So imagine my surprise when the same shopping list cost $124 this morning! That's a huge difference, but except for one package of Babybel cheese which I bought on a clearance sale, there were no extras. What caused the rise in price?

Then I looked at the price of gas on my way out of the Kroger parking lot. Last week I paid $3.01 a gallon. Today's price was $3.29! That's a huge increase in less than a week.What could be fueling this rate increase (no pun intended....)?

In looking at the current administration and the various measures passed on behalf (allegedly) of the American people, we have a government that is spending money like crazy. And the only way to replenish the coffers is to pressure for more taxes. Companies right now are having to scramble to absorb the increased costs from Obamacare. The only way for a business to get more profit in order to pay taxes is to raise prices. That's true for everyone from the local baker to the international oil company. Taxes raise prices on everyone. There is no such thing as a free lunch and those idiots at Occupy are now about to learn what the Obama administration really has in store.

There have been draconian actions designed to bring the US to its knees. Let's review:
1. Ethanol-This is a false flag. Ethanol takes food and animal feed off the market to make into expensive and highly corrosive fuel that destroys engines on older cars. If you are like me, you drive an older car because it is what your family can afford. So what happens when that ten or twelve year old Honda or Toyota has its engine gaskets eaten by the very fuel you have made available to you? Want to hear the real irony? The same states that produce the most corn have the FEWEST E85 stations. In fact some of them like Iowa, have leaded fuel? Why? Because fuel with lead works better, gives better mileage and keeps engines running efficiently. We are seeing much higher costs for gas because ethanol is a difficult substance to handle and blend. Ethanol is not the answer. The farmers know that. But that doesn't stop them from wanting the rest of us to buy into the fairy tale. This leads us to number 2.
2. GM and other motor company bailouts-Did you hear about the Volt? It's probably the biggest failure since the Edsel. This is Government Motors-taken over by the Feds because they didn't want their good buddies in the UAW to have to renegotiate wages with a new owner. Obama is all about the unions. But down the line, if what I state in #1 is true, many of us will be faced with the dilemma of having to buy a new car even if we can't afford it. This will force families to forego other amenties to buy cars so that they can continue working. This in turn will cause bank interest rates to soar for everyone because they can no longer penalize bad risk borrowers with higher rates than the average.
3. The top two will add to unemployment which will further stymie the economy....
4. Then there's the ethical issues of this administration. Seriously, has anyone investigated what Soros is doing with American stimulus money in Brazil? How about asking the Solyndra CEO to tell how much of the half billion stimulus dollars went directly back to the Obama campaign chest? There's Holder....There's Franks who left in anticipation of some still unnamed issues.....and on and on.....someone, anyone in the media, write a story without using Jounalist or AP for a change like back in the day when news was really news and not about the Kardashians.
5. When you go to the grocery store, note how many products are being discontinued. This is a bad sign because it means that people aren't buying and that stores dont' want to risk purchasing. This leads right back to the manufacturers and layoffs. Discontinue a line of cookies and you end up with factories closed and workers without jobs. Connect the dots.


I don't know how much longer I can deal with this personally. Things are getting bad. That the media continues to ignore what is going on makes me doubt that they are all that independent anymore. So I guess my advice is to keep your eyes open, talk to your neighbors and don't get snowed by the forces of Glittering Generalities and Abhorrent Arrogance.