Food Prices - 10/26/16

Sometimes I will post a comment here that I posted on someone else's thread. Sometimes what other people post inspires a RANT. What inspired this rant was a bunch of posts about how food prices have remained stable since 1980, according to the Consumer Price Index of the US of A Gov't. According to a chart and data the guy posted, the price of food has increased modestly- if at all- over the years. I've heard other people say that too. I call BULLSHIT ON THAT! If you've been grocery shopping for the last 20 (or more) years, you've seen FOOD PRICES GO UP dramatically! Your gov't figures are massaged if you think that food prices are the same now as they were thirty or forty fucking years ago.

You simply can't compare the price of food in 1980 to the price of food today. You're comparing apples and oranges! Back in 1980, who was buying organic food? Who was buying artisanal cheeses and breads? Who was buying lattes at Starbux? The entire food landscape has changed. TheRE is a huge variety now in quality that just didn't exist then. Food just isn't "fungible" like gold- which is why gold makes sense as an economic indicator over time whereas food doesn't. An ounce of pure gold from 500 years ago or 50 years ago or 5 years ago from anywhere in the world is the same as an ounce bought tomorrow. There is an economic indicator called the "Big Mac Index" which is about as fungible as food gets. It compares the price of food around the world based on what it costs in US dollars to buy a Big Mac in those places. The idea being that a Big Mac is pretty much the same in Moscow, Paris, London, Johannesburg, Beijing, Baltimore, and wherever. But when it comes to sushi, for Pete's sake, there's sushi from Giant (which has improved immeasurably over the years BTW) to award-winning sushi from Matsuri here in Baltimore to sushi at Whole Foods (overpriced IMO) to sushi from the corner Chinese hole in the wall (you are basically risking your health with this stuff) to high-end sushi in Tokyo where one fish can go for tens of thousands of dollars. Hell, there are pizza slices that I wouldn't touch with a ten food pole which folks here in Baltimore scarf down by the hundreds every day to very good pizza at Bella Roma in Hampden which is excellent- AND IT'S the same price! But with the government food data figures, over the years they can change what food is in the basket to get any number they want. What could be more politically sensitive than the price of food?