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A Taste Of Unleaded Things To Come
In a follow-up to our discussion yesterday - and perhaps a haunting vision of days to come if the tensions that are so rapidly rising in the Middle East actually spill over - is this chart from Bloomberg of the massive spike in California gas prices. How will this impact the California economy? Especially now they can't count on all that Facebook capital gains tax? Think this is only those silly West Coast 'techies' problem? Think again, as news today is discussing the redirection of fuel supplies to the West Coast, which will inevitably mean a rise in broad US fuel costs as the shortage picture equilibrates.
- EXXON ALLOCATES FUEL TO WEST COAST TERMINAL CUSTOMERS :XOM US
Chart: Bloomberg Chart of the Day
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Trucks and trains.
I know there are train routes through the Rockys that deliver refined products. But that's quite expensive isn't it? Also, is there any significant capacity?
Well, all I know is that oil companies are altruistic, which is why they are helping CA out.
Regards,
Cooter
Allegedly, rail is one of the cheapest over-the-ground forms of transport if you've access to it.
Dude, it's all in the "Perception management" !
I thought they only had electric vehicles out there?
Well, now that you mention it, I bet the folks in San Francisco are just laughing at high gas prices and shortages...
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/The-Green-City-Index-H...
After all, they are the most sustainable city in the US!
Regards,
Cooter
My kingdom for a properly labeled x-axis!
I'm quite sure that consumer confidence is rising....hee hee
Here's our Soundtrack for the future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=X5rF67v_q84&feature=endscreen
Then you get your Lehman or your Morgan Stanley or whatever bank they are going to use to take over the US. Not that they haven't already but they wanna see us dead. No more people. All gone. Only vermin banksters to continue. I don't think I like them. Oh but we have elections. Maybe there will be a referendum to kick all banksters out of the state. Maybe.
It is not just Cali, Northern Nevada gets all there gas from California. Yesterday we got a .20 to .25 cent jump in gas prices.
That's it? And people complain about .25 more? 25 gal tank if empty = $6.25 increase. That's less than:
- 1 captain & coke
- 1 movie ticket
- a haircut
I thought that's why we sent you dumb jarheads over to SandLand-cheap gas. Or were you fighting for my freedoms?
Dream of Californication ...
Why Nevada insists on getting shitty expensive gas from California when we have Utah on our other border is a mystery.
They have been successful at keeping it under $4. around here.
Your turn is coming. What's your zip code?
<Rerouting tanker trucks away from your location.......now.......sucker.>
give it a few minutes-Shell,BP etc won't forget ya
Here's a thought: Instead of driving, put your fat ass on a bike.
That's easy to say in California or Florida, but try getting around on a bike where there is snow and ice on the ground for half of the year --- and it is raining half of the remaining half. Not a very appealing (or practical) option.
What part of the country are you referring? This bike suggestion need not apply to the fifteen eskimoe's you're addressing.
Oh I dunno: Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan come to mind.
Ice age conditions, huh?
You are obviously another one of those smug jerks who subconsciously believes that HIS world is the only possible world, and that one size fits all.
What a perfect government central planner you would make.
I'll say. I'd like to see him binking here in Minnesota in -30 degree weather with snow coming down at the rate of two inches per hour. I'm thinking he's an Al Gore follower somewhere down in the deep south. Snow? Oh yeah, we had some couple years ago. No big deal.
He be lookin' California and feelin' Minnesota ;o)
http://www.lyrics007.com/Soundgarden%20Lyrics/Outshined%20Lyrics.html
As long as we're generalizing, asshole, I'm referring to the daily commuters throughout this country that sit their fat asses , ALONE, inside of their cars, as they putz about the roadways and highways, all the while texting and dialing as they drive; causing massive traffic jams and headaches as they roll through stop signs and ignore the rules of the road.
And don't forget: while they drive at least 10 mph OVER the already-high speed limit, again while texting, talking on their cell phones, or using some other irrelevant e-gadget, regardless of the conditions (rain, snow, night, fog, etc.).
It is latter phenomenon that I observe the most nowadays when it comes to reckless and irresponsible driving: the absolute refusal to SLOW THE FUCK DOWN for inclement or even dangerous conditions.
Maybe in Alaska, but not the rest of McDonald's nation. You're out of your mind. The texting/dialing crowd swerve into other lanes, stop when the light turns green, and drive ten to twenty lower than posted speed limit on any given highway, especially the passing lane.
Well, I was in Michigan last year, and driving on the freeways surrounding the Detroit area, and I can remember one late-twilight evening in particular when it was raining rather hard and the average speed of those driving around me was AT LEAST 80 mph --- a speed which is 15 mph faster than the highest speed I will drive under ANY conditions, much less in rain combined with darkness. It was almost suicidal, and I could not wait to get the FUCK away from that place!
LOL, I drive 80 every day.
Then you are just another wannabe-suicidal idiot --- as well as apparently somebody who enjoys paying 20% or more than they have to for gasoline by driving unnecessarily (and recklessly) fast.
It would not matter so much to me that you recklessly endanger your life by driving so fast --- the problem stems from you (and those who drive like you) endangering EVERYONE ELSE on the road at the same time. I have directly witnessed fatal accidents caused by those like you ---are those few minutes you MIGHT save by driving so recklessly fast REALLY worth the vastly greater risk you bring upon yourself and others?
Here's another idea: Drive the speed limit with your eyes on the road and your mobile phone in your pocket. Use the passing lanes when you want to pass, or get the fuck out of the way.
I agree 1000%!
And if it is snowing, icy, or foggy (particularly at night), SLOW THE FUCK DOWN! The posted speed limit is a safe maximum (under optimal conditions), NOT a mandatory minimum under ALL conditions!
The highway danger to watch out for now in Cali is a car passing you on the freeway, with all the passengers in the back seat: the new Google/JerryBrown android model - the 2013 "MoonBeam".
120 is the new 80. The old 80 was really 60...
(pssstttt - cracks another beer)
Now where was I?
Yeah dude, we have to sleep inside our tauntauns.
It's true. We have great bike paths and trails, but to get where I work, I would still be crossing some very iffy intersections. My life life is worth more than a few hundred bucks of shitty gas. We're headed for a revolution if this crap keeps up, anyways.
how about anything north of the Ohio and Missouri Rivers?
I was referring above, in my particular case, to Alaska (any part --- even the Southeast Panhandle, with less ice and snow, receives vastly more rain in exchange), but essentially the same applies to the entire northern tier of the USA, from Maine through Michigan over to Montana, as well as to just about any part of Canada.
We have pretty hard core cyclists here in SE AK. Even the ones that wear slicker suits and ride in the rain anyway are never seen on a bike in the winter when there is snow/ice down.
Regards,
Cooter
I'm averaging 25 biking miles/day here in Palm Desparate CA, with only 1-2" rain per YEAR over maybe 8 days, completely flat terrain for 30 miles, bikelanes and sidewalks everywhere, new roads empty of traffic as discretionary driving has collapsed. A flat tire or a traffic light during 110 deg. JUL-SEP weather gets hot real fast, so we design right-turn clockwise routes and flat-proof the tires. The eventual Carrington Event #2 CME knocking out the grid will ground all cars electric, hybrid and gas, and I'll be out there alone, not changing cadence.
Until you die of thirst.
Now that sounds a LOT like upstate NY. Drizzliest cities in the nation, more rainy days that Seattle or Portland.
pods
Try London in December, ya pussies ;o)
One of the big problems with the PacNW is the short daylength in winter. Riding in the rain sucks - riding in the dark in the rain to and from work extra-sucks.
I don't think you've ever been to Los Angeles. This city of over 10 million people is not built up, it's built north,south,east, west. You can fit numerous major US cities within the geography of LA. Saying that, in as much as it's admirable to be able to ride a bike to work, in a city like Los Angeles it's entirely unfeasable for most people.
The city of LA and its immediate suburbs is bigger than some COUNTRIES in Europe.... How about you bike from Frankfurt to Paris on a daily basis?
Frankfurt to Paris ain't your normal daily commute, is it?
I compute it would take about 273 fat asses on 273 bikes to pull an 18 wheeler up a very mild grade to deliver food to the grocery stores in Denver, which is 5200 feet above sea level.
And to fuel the calories to do that they may have to eat the contents of the truck.
I should have qualified my response with commuters rather than transports. Regardless, the advice is intended for majority of the retards that sit in traffic every day, waiting in long lines to order their Big Macs.
Commuters should really be forced into better driver training, 30 seconds on the ramifications of "trucks don't have the same braking and acceleration charactericis of cars" really doesn't cut it.
In my small F250 with only a ton (or so) of steel, concrete, or gravel in back, the retards are asking for hard lesson in "natural selection."
Even an afternoon of watching 18 wheel road pizza being cleaned apparently isn't enough, since the damn rubber neckers go to great lengths to "see" and yet fail to "comprehend."
Oil is magical indeed.
It costs far more to ride across the US on a bike than it does to drive.
Food costs for months vs. food and gas for 3-5 days....
Oil enables progress.
Without it, it's back to the horse and buggy. And the 4 wives/18 kids.
Come to think of it....WTF are we doing!!!
Great, lets strap on a 3 piece suit and bike 20 miles to work ... each way.
Bikes are greak in dense mentropolitian areas . . . your asserting he needs to ride a bike to solve said problem tells me EXACTLY where you come from. Rent an apartment in the burbs for a few years . . . without a car.
Douche-nozzle.
The burbs need to be bulldozed, even more than Detroit. They are a testament to the failure of civil engineering education in the US, and the stupidity of locally selected muppet masters.
Wholesale CARBOB is trading 50 usc/gal down today, short term squeeze. You are just seeing the aftermath from earlier in the week.
La wholesale market is down 70 usc/gal today. San Fran down 45 usc/gal. Prices should drop by next week.
I thought CA had it's own state mandated mix of additives?
It does. Any gas brought in will have to be refined explicitly for CA consumption, unless the state waived laws for some reason.
Regards,
Cooter
And how long would it take the Governor Moonbeam to sign his name on a piece of paper waiving that regulation (it's not even a law)?
Brown wants to sit around and talk, and let committees "do their thing", because an artificial shortage was created by the regulations of the very bureaucracy he was elected to "fix". Moonbeam should be fixed, if he doesn't have balls, he doesn't need a dick.
jumped up to $4 (+.20) in NE IL. I remember driving wifey and 1st child to Naples FL in 01/09 and gas was $1.35 and I would fill up every time I used a few gallons because-as I told wifey-it'll never get this cheap again. FUCK YOU BERNANKE!
Went by the gas station yesterday and price was 4.14, up .15 from the morning. Filled up this morning, at the CheapStation, at 4.69/gal. The lynch mob inside the store wasn't too happy to hear the kid say that it was going up around .30 in a couple of hours.
I expect $5.50 by Wednesday.
wow- as the poster said above-"Mad Max was a documentary"
So is this the part where the state of California, in the spirit of paying its fair share and helping the citizens, agrees to suspend its .45/gal gas tax?
HAHAHAHOHOHO.
Sometimes I crack myself up.
In NC, State Law requires the State gas tax to rise at certain levels of increased pump price. God Bless the Old North State.
It's all crappy politics just like the miraculous 7.8% unemployment number with (850,000) new jobs in a month ... California gasoline stock is dwindling in order to keep supplies flowing for the rest of the nation ... why ... California is in the bag for Obama and there now may be a question about the rest of the nation. Gas prices went up $.19 today ... the largest one day increase in history, just like the 850,000 newly discovered jobs a new monthly record.
Obvious lies ... We are the new Native American class being raped by the Great White (Black) Father in Washington.
It's October folks.
They had better stop fucking with our gas here in CA right before the election or Rosanne Barr might just carry the state.
And all these gas shortages in Cali and in the news are pre-emptive brainwashing for the upcoming war on Iran...
...yes, and a brand new movie is coming out right now about a heroic rescue of American Hostages from those dastardly Iranians back in '79!
Wow, what a coincidink!
Gin up the anger again about the Hostage Situation! Stir the masses! We even have a Jimmy Carter locked in battle with a Ronnie Raygun!
Man, the PTB are lazy. They just re-run the same script 30 years later!
ARGO:
http://rancidnews.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/argo-we-dont-want-you-to-forg...
Long on War!
Oh for fuck's sake!
Then in a few short years we re-enact Red Dawn 1984.
...but my escalade how can I be a man without an escalade or F150?
we are idiots people
I love to watch the soccer dads pump $125 worth of gas into their Dodge Ram SuperPenisExtender (that they never haul anything other than their fat wives and kids in) and then shuffle back off to their underwater plastic houses. AMERICA-FUCK YEAH!
F150's are for wimps. You have to have at least an HD (Heavy Duty) to be considered a real man or woman.
(F250 or 2500HD) F150's are more mid-size these days.
I haul more lumber in my Toyoya Camry with split fold down rear seats than 90% of guys haul in their pickups. The local Dodge dealer is starting to stack Dodge Rams on top of one another he has so many sitting on his lot.
The Super King Cab editions end up with less truck bed space than an average trunk has.
As one of those other 10% of truck owners (who also owns 2 Camrys), I agree. But the Camry is not a substitute for a truck, when a truck is needed. Split rear seats may work for a couple 8' lengths of lumber, but they don't help with 4x8 sheet goods, 10' lengths of plumbing or electrical bar stock, and a lot of the things that people who actually build things have to haul on a regular basis. They also aren't efficient when regular loading and unloading of tools and toolboxes is required.
The last time I was in the US I amost broke the suspension on my F250 when a CAT 900 series front loader dropped a heavy ton of #8s into the bed. Had I tried that maneuver with the Camry it would have made a hilarious YouTube video, and I'd need another beater for daily use.
I also wouldn't recommend the Camry for hauling a couple yards a manure from the ranch down the road back to the garden since we're getting to fall planting, but to each his own...
All the Escalades I see these days are driven by poor people living in the projects down the street. I suppose they buy them with proceeds from drug sales and prostituting their sisters. Escalades with chrome 20" rims, and tinted windows so you can't tell what crime they happen to be committing as they drive down the road.
That's a status symbol? Maybe if you happen to be a gangster. I try to stay out of their way because they run red lights like nobody cares.
Does anyone think the people who want to see Republicans in power do not manipulate gas prices, down for Republican incumbents, and up for Democrats. He who owns the refinery can make gasoline.
You can trash-talk California all you want, but we're big enough to sink all the rest of you mo'fo's in one massive tsunami of human and economic grief. We have one really bad day and all the rest of your shit comes unwired right-god-dammit-now.
Fact.
Okay that sounded way too proud. I didn't mean it like that. It's not good news out here. We're like Iran except in actually having weapons of economic mass destruction. We all be gangsta'
But really -- one really bad day -- and all kinds of shit is gonna come unwired. Count on it.
Oh, please - just bring it. Let's dispense with the long, drawn out, agonizingly slow increase in the heat, and just turn it up to boil while we still enough sense left to wake up and jump the fuck out of the pot. Martial law, baby! Revolution time! Drones and moans. Let's go....
Or put another way, to paraphrase someone more learned than me but perhaps it was Clint Eastwood: "California will NEVER fall into the Pacific Ocean because the rest of the United States sucks"
that makes total sense now...
just to spite you, I will blow myself up... that'll teach em... arg.
wait, now I understand
Let's look at the facts:
-Virtually impossible to import fuel out of state because of a specialized gas formula that is 10% more efficient in pollution.
-a more expensive fuel because of said formula.
-no refineries have been built since the 70s.
-2 refineries off line, one because of a fire, one because of a power outage.
-one refinery had to shut off crude oil pipleine going north.
-extremely massive and geographically spread-out state which requires tremendous amount of driving time.
-environmental regulations make it almost impossible to build any new refineries
-massive population growth since the 70s
This state continuously shoots itself in the foot. Every damn day. I have no idea how we are still considered an economic powerhouse (of sorts).
so you are saying you're fucked............
Absolutely, with no lube, in the middle of a sand storm, in the middle of Death Valley at 1PM in August.
We have a lot more misery coming.
Hell, I wouldn't care about shooting the foot but it's a headshot now.
We're just another European country now: wine, bottled water, cafe restaurants, rotten government, horrendous unemployment, crazy high gas prices. Ain't it grand?
Exept in the Euro zone the people are getting half the price of gas returned to them.
You're nothing like Europe- you still have 1/2 off (well maybe only 1/3 off this week) gasoline, no significant public transportation infratructure, you have chain restaurants serving faux food and bottled water, and you have vast tracts of cheap land available for making boxed wine. The only the thing the US & Europe have in common is rotten government , horrendous unemployment, and evil central bankers.
Tyler and ZH gang, what happened to TBT?
I now wish I held my shares but on a long enough timeline blah, blah, blah.
I think it pulled a 4:1 reverse split like SDS did today. ZIRP guarantees it's not going up, and the fees just bleed you to death if you try to hold an ETF like that long term.
Ah... thank you sir!
Time for another cash for clunckers program!! Right Obama?? It's gonna fix everything!
This is an election year and the government is probably pulling out all the stops to avoid problems that would irritate voters. But this must be the exception, because I know government is causing this problem, right now.
Maybe this is not what we think.. a simple shortage.
If I found out my master plan to crash USA was blown up when mittens blew my cover, I might start the Riots ASAP.
Then it's only a short trip to enclaves of martial law and TSA goons looking for balls and tits.
Stay aware. I hope I'm wrong.....
i wonder how high petrol prices have to go before the trucking industry buckles?
They won't buckle, but instead drive really, really slow, not once punching the throttle.
I'm still amazed though at the number of them I see braking for no apparent reason. Even going uphill!
Aren't most truckers horrified when they see an Obama 2012 sticker on the bumper of the car in front of them? That could explain the brake lights going uphill. Or maybe it's just a carload of folks going to the nearest Obama-money-giveaway-fest that are simply driving too slowly while they all talk on their new Obamaphones, not realizing they are driving waayyy toooo slooowww.
Let's all of us drive and find out exactly where Obama's "stash" is.
Try driving real truck some time (not a faux "light" truck). If you're seeing trucks put on the brakes for no apparent reason from your vantage point in a comparatively small car, then the most likely cause can be found in your rear view mirror (or a similar one several hundred yards away)...
Charts I've seen say the bleeding begins at $6 and is terminal at $7. "Just in time" do no longer workie.
Costco in Rancho Cuckoo today went from 4.17 to 4.34...as I waited in line (per the Costco guy). Paid 3.99 there tuesday night
I live in Rancho Cucaracha too, hausmzk. I filled up at the Fontucky Costco a couple of days ago for $3.97. Just saw the Channel 4 news last night (and confirmed) that the Fontucky Costco, the Montclair Costco, and several others closed their stations already due to lack of gas. They were selling the premium for the regular price until they ran out (I suppose). Don't know about Sams Club in Ontario (4th St) and if they still have gas or not. I have membership in both places. Might check it out tomorrow. Meanwhile, if they don't have gas, they should refund some of the membership price, as lower priced gas is the only reason I have a membership at these places. I also noted that the snack bar at the 4th St. (RC) Costco is closed, why? Shortage of hot dogs, too? How long will they be able to continue selling the (shrunken, if you noticed) dogs for $1.50 with a Coke for the same price?
"Fontucky"...that's just TOO funny!
Heh, and to think, I used to live there!
fontucky The word combination of the places Fontana, CA and Kentucky. People who live in other, nicer areas of southern California often make fun of Fontana because of the many trailer parks, loose chickens running around, and the trailer park trash that reside there. KKK lives there, along with some low-class Mexicans and blacks. It is the backwoods of California. More recently, Fontana is experiencing urban sprawl with housing developments coinciding with high real estate prices, and chain stores and fast food restaurants that have made Fontana a better place to live. But it will never shake the reputation it is had as Fontucky. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fontucky..and more:
In years past Fontana was often called Fontucky. The nickname Fontucky was given (and is still used today) because of the number of poor white people and rednecks living there (much like the back woods of Kentucky).
The nickname Fontucky has stuck and is still used partially because of the people living in some of the "nicer" surrounding areas such as Etiwanda and Alta Loma. People living in those areas try their best to differentiate themselves from the lower-income, lower classes and higher crime rates often associated with Fontana. By referring to Fontana as Fontucky, it perpetuates the stereotype which many claim is no longer true.
Today, the average income of Fontucky is actually slightly higher than the rest of California however the average home value is far lower than the rest of California. The lower home values of Fontana may be partially due to the number of mobile homes in the area which also makes the name Fontucky stick.
More people now refer to Fontucky as "little Mexico" or Fontalajara because the majority of people living in Fontana today are of Hispanic or Mexican descent. There are over 400% more "Mexicans" in Fontana today than there are Rednecks (aka, poor white trash).
No matter if you call it Fontana, Fontucky or Little Mexico, Fontana is still considered a shithole by most people!
from http://www.insidetheie.com/why-fontana-fontucky
High gas prices here in SoCal don't bother me that much. I counter that with the ease of driving on the usually packed freeways, that are suddenly lightened up, by the hordes of the poor, staying home in their POS minivans and suburbans packed with their brood and doing less than the speed limit in the fast lane! They can't buy gas with their EBT cards!
I have three cars and am single. The first, is my 'bitch' car, a 2006 Ford Focus wagon. Next is the 95' Corvette and soon to be appearing on a California road is the 74' Stingray.
Yesterday, I brought one of the shop cars to the company car show. The 1969 Chevelle Convertible ex drag race car. It gets 8 miles to the gallon and 50 smiles to the gallon! Still running a heavily modified small block 350 and a powertrain to match. It runs open headers and it is a 'HELL YEAH!' kind of car! It is rude, crude and obnoxious. Silver, black and chrome gleam in the sunlight, accompanied by the deafening racket of high performance muscle, just like it should be.
I ran it a few times for giggles and got only extreme reactions. It either got total scowls or huge thumbs up. There was no middle ground. I am a certified Carbon Criminal.
Careful! I can see a cali jury handing out a justifiable homicide decision with a car like that!
That must have been you doing donuts in the intersection two blocks from my house, then.
I called the cops on your ass. Nothing personal. Too much HELL YEAH for 10 o'clock at night.
Here's a hell yeah traffic stopper that don't make no noise whatever:
http://madscienceunlimited.com/blackbird_2.jpg
All electric. Made it's way into the Sept "Popular Science" it did. That's sick, as the kids around the block like to say.
Where im going, I dont need a car. Just a mule
livereating2.jpg
I just sat down at my computer after a trip to Lowes to buy a small bag of potting soil, double A batteries, and some LED lights for my kitchen to brighten the counter space. I walked out with nothing. I had bought one of those large packs of batteries a year or so ago for $7 something but today they were 16 bucks, what do they have in them that is suddenly in such short supply? I guess I will have to go back to brushing my teeth the old fashioned way, scraping a brush up and down till my wrist cramps.
Potting soil? The last time I bought that was spring last year and it was $3.49 for a 2 cubic foot bag I could barely lift, today it was $9.98 for a bag the size of a woman's purse. The LED lights I looked at in June were then 24 bucks, today 68.
I was over on the California coast for a bit of camping, passing through the small snip of the NW corner of the state to get to the campground I noticed gas was $4.599 and it is up 20 cents here today as well to $4.099, either the oil industry is grossly mismanaging their business, or they are blatantly raising prices in a shameless political move because they know high prices hurt the incumbent. Either way they need arresting and a damned thorough public flogging.
Prices cannot rise at this clip long is the only comfort I can take from it all because the money/credit does not exist in the hands of 99% of the public to pay them. Prices will collapse when the economy sputters to a halt and it will, I have seen it before in the early seventies, after all the wealth is confiscated the game resets and we start over. Nothing new to see here folks.
You can see things sputtering to a halt everywhere you look here in Desert Cities CA, starting with the massive, 3-year CLOSED Sam's Club, with 1 car in the 4 acre parking lot - the security truck. WalMex, BestBuy, OfficeDepot and other bigbox stores look like bomb scares inside, except at midnight when electronic deposits become usable, car dealerships will need double deck parking if channel stuffing continues, restaurants are empty, with many already closed, Best Buy vacated it's anchor location in the biggest mall and relocated at Circuit Cities smaller abandoned store, and many bigboxers are going to attempt to open small, specialty locations, none of which will work either.
The good news? Thrift shops are booming: Goodwill just doubled its floorspace, and the other thrifts are packed with newbie buyers learning the pricing, discount codes and weekly delivery and stocking schedules. It's a new world collapse, hiding in plain sight.
@boiltherich
Similar price games going on up here in Canuckville. Believe it or not, I have not seen a price increase in many of the storable foods I've been buying for the past 2 years. Example, I buy an 18kg bag of rice for $10 and it's been the same price for about 2 years. I think the food stores are very afraid to raise prices too much (if at all) lest they find rebellion on the doorstep some day. The stores do play other games. For instance, I can not find the same no-name brands of various canned meats. The main wholesale store I shop at has replaced canned corned beef with a "Brand Name" product that costs about $1/can more than the no-name. I'm not sure if there is a difference in weight/volume between the two because I don't have one of the no-name cans left. Anyway, you get the idea. However....!!!
As for hard goods, I've been tracking the cost of a Coleman camp stove for the past 3 years. Three years ago they were $90 new. Today they are $120-130 and they NEVER go on sale. Meanwhile you can find a good used one online for around $25-40. That's just one example. Even the liquidation stores that buy up container loads of crap have raised their prices on many items by $2-5 for stuff priced in the $10-20 range. Example, I buy cheap work coveralls from a liquidation store that used to cost $19. They are now $23 and that's just the past SIX MONTHS! I could carry on with example after example but I'll leave it at that for now. I find myself walking out of stores having purchased nothing more and more. It's getting to the point where I won't even consider driving to a store to get something I need without first calling them to find out if they have it on the fucking shelf to begin with, and what the price is. I'm not wasting anymore of my time or gas on single trips to one store. I'll plan a trip to several stores and if one doesn't have what I want at the price I want then at least the day and my time/fuel are not a complete loss.
That's a good price on rice, the Cash and Carry here that wholesales to the public and is mostly shopped by the restaurant trade has 50 pounds for 21 bucks, not quite double your price, and ironic since it was probably grown in California. If grocery stores have not raised their prices too obviously I can think of three reasons, one is they are but via stealth in lowering quantities, they have become experts at selling you less product that LOOKS like the same amount, such as my Marie Callender story a few weeks back where the pot pie I bought had a normal looking box and top crust but the actual pie under that was half the size/weight it was 6 months ago. Or, bags of chips that are mostly noble gasses which don't cause the contents to go stale or taste funny because they don't react, but do (literally) inflate the bag which are now just a quarter full with actual edibles.
But also, the Looney is strong even as the dollar and other major currencies are weakened, the pair peaked out a few years ago at US$1.25 to the C buck but Canada is fighting hard to maintain parity and may well have to give up and allow appreciation as tar sand development progresses. Canadian powers that be see parity as the upper limit on their exchange rate because 75% of Canadians live and trade within 100 miles of the US border and almost half of Canadian GDP is contributed by US based firms and business, it was the ForEx advantages and the Canadian social safety nets, national health insurance for instance that gave the companies incentive to set up shop over the border, take away the ForEx advantage or the government picking up the tab for legacy costs and those companies leave unceremoniously.
Last, I can't remember, not too awake yet, I will add it when I have more coffee in me.
Gas here in SoCal jumped .30 overnight; last check it was $4.65 at Chevron.
So far I've heard about 4 or 5 different "reasons" why it suddenly jumped, but this crap is all too familiar to the same scenario as with electricity when Enron was busy screwing Grandma. We had plants "offline for maintenence" then too.
Why do I feel the elite have spent the last 40 years fattening us up and now their ready to eat!
Now we get to see the CIA/Mossad faction fight off the Commie/Musloid faction.
Either way, BOHICA!
Lower gas prices will not be back.
Smels Enron is back