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Food prices soar as U.S. government says there's no inflation

Dan Weil
Moneynews.com
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 19:13 UTC
Food Inflation 'Far Greater' Than Government Admits
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Wages aren't keeping up with food inflation, creating a problem for American families.

While consumer prices overall have risen 6.4 percent since 2011, chicken has jumped 18.4 percent, ground beef 16.8 percent and bacon 22.8 percent, CBS News reports.

"Food inflation is far greater than the government thinks it is," ConvergEx market strategist Nick Colas told CBS.

At the same time, median income has gained only 1 percent a year, CBS reports. That makes it difficult for parents to save for their children's college expenses. College tuition has increased 6 to 8 percent a year for the last five decades, according to CBS.

While some economists see the overall economy in fine shape, "middle-class families are quietly struggling," writes CBS correspondent Michelle Miller.

Comment: WHEW! That's coming from a psychopath who is way up there in the responsibility stakes for creating the very same "gaping income inequality"...

Are we feeling the pinch yet?

Additional examples of soaring food prices around the world:

World food prices near crisis levels

India: Inflation dips but food prices soar

Rising food prices - not just your imagination

Higher energy, food prices are hurting most Americans

Rising food prices, climate change and global 'unrest'

World Food Crisis Looms as Prices Soar to Record High

Misery for UK households as food prices soar at twice the EU average

Rising Food Prices Continue to Climb, with Prices Up 10% in July Alone

Steak to become 'luxury item' as UK food prices predicted to soar in 2014

Indonesia's food prices hiked by a whopping 12.9%, inflation at 22-month high

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Card - MC

How the credit card gravy train is running over you

Ellen Brown
Web of Debt
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 19:15 UTC
credit cards
© Adam Gault / OJO Images / Getty Images
The credit card business is now the banking industry's biggest cash cow, and it's largely due to lucrative hidden fees.

You pay off your credit card balance every month, thinking you are taking advantage of the "interest-free grace period" and getting free credit. You may even use your credit card when you could have used cash, just to get the free frequent flier or cash-back rewards. But those popular features are misleading. Even when the balance is paid on time every month, credit card use imposes a huge hidden cost on users - hidden because the cost is deducted from what the merchant receives, then passed on to you in the form of higher prices.

Visa and MasterCard charge merchants about 2% of the value of every credit card transaction, and American Express charges even more. That may not sound like much. But consider that for balances that are paid off monthly (meaning most of them), the banks make 2% or more on a loan averaging only about 25 days (depending on when in the month the charge was made and when in the grace period it was paid). Two percent interest for 25 days works out to a 33.5% return annually (1.02^(365/25) - 1), and that figure may be conservative.

Merchant fees were originally designed as a way to avoid usury and Truth-in-Lending laws. Visa and MasterCard are independent entities, but they were set up by big Wall Street banks, and the card-issuing banks get about 80% of the fees. The annual returns not only fall in the usurious category, but they are returns on other people's money - usually the borrower's own money! Here is how it works . . . .
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Horse

Amish buggy horse killed in drive-by shooting, man charged


The Smoking Gun
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 18:49 UTC
amish horse shooting 1
Timothy Antonio Diggs, 22
Horse killed by bullet fired on Pennsylvania roadway

Timothy Antonio Diggs, 22, is facing seven misdemeanor counts, including reckless endangerment, cruelty to animals, and firing into an occupied vehicle, according to the East Lampeter Township Police Department.

The horse was pulling a buggy with five family members around 9 PM on November 24 when "an unknown type car traveling north passed the buggy."

The buggy's occupants, a married couple and their three young children, told investigators that they heard "a loud noise, described as sounding like a firecracker" as the vehicle passed.

Upon returning to their farm, the family discovered that the horse had been shot in the chest. The animal died before a veterinarian reached the family's residence.

Diggs, seen in the above mug shot, has been jailed since cops executed a search warrant at his home in early-December. During that raid, officers located handguns and a motorcycle that had been stolen in two separate burglaries.
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Take 2

Funnyman Sid Caesar dead at 91

Todd Leopold
CNN
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:26 UTC
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© Unknown
Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," has died. He was 91.

A friend of the family, actor Rudy De Luca, did not know the exact cause of death, but said Caesar had respiratory problems and other health problems for several years.

Caesar became famous for "Your Show of Shows," which went on the air in 1950. It lasted four years and was followed by "Caesar's Hour," which combined sketches, musical revues and situation comedy.

Both shows featured writers who became famous in their own right, including Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen and Larry Gelbart. Woody Allen also contributed to Caesar's comedy as a writer for one of his specials.

Brooks visited Caesar last night to say goodbye, De Luca told CNN.

"Sid Caesar was a giant-maybe the best comedian who ever practiced the trade & I was privileged to be one of his writers & one of his friends," Brooks tweeted Wednesday.

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Bad Guys

Endure exploding natural gas well, earn free pizza! (Some restrictions apply)


philly.com
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 12:02 UTC
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Last Tuesday, the residents of the small rural community of Bobtown in the far southwestern corner of Pennsylvania woke up to a horrible shock -- the sound of a massive explosion in their backyards. The source of the blast and the intensely hot fire that followed was a Chevron fracking well that had been set to begin production, but instead shot orange flames high into the air and gave off loud hissing sounds that could be heard hundreds of yards away.

John Kuis, 57, of nearby Dilliner told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that at 6:45 a.m., his dog growled, then the earth rumbled, and finally: "Then the house just sort of shook and there was a big loud bang." Another neighbor told the paper that the fracking explosion "sounded like a jet engine going 5 feet above your house."

It was a horrific event on every level. One worker at the rig was not found and is presumed dead. The fire -- who posed enormous risks to rescue workers and to the surrounding community -- burned intensely for five days before it was finally extinguished. Despite reassurances, neighbors surely worried whether toxins were released in the fiery aftermath.
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Cow Skull

'Wild-life protector' Prince Harry in 'trophy kill' water buffalo photo


UK Mirror
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 12:04 UTC
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Hypocrite. Harry bags a water buffalo to save the animals.
Prince Harry's pledge to protect wildlife has been dealt a blow over this picture of the royal crouching over the body of water buffalo he shot dead on a hunting trip.

The photo has emerged in the week he pledged to do all he could to save animals threatened with extinction in Africa.

And it also follows worldwide condemnation of another royal hunting trip just ten days ago when Prince William went boar shooting in Spain.

The picture was taken in November 2004, when the-then 20-year-old was on a gap year trip to Argentina shortly before he enrolled at Sandhurst military academy.
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Bizarro Earth

Woman jailed for not returning video she rented 9 years ago


FoxCarolina.com
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 11:53 UTC
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A Pickens woman has been arrested and charged after deputies said she failed to return a Jennifer Lopez movie she rented in 2005.

Kayla Michelle Finley, 27, has been charged with failure to return a rented video cassette, according to the Pickens County Sheriff's Office.

According to warrants Finely rented Monster-In-Law from Dalton Video, which is no longer in business, in 2005 and the tape was not returned within 72 hours
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Black Magic

Occult ritual killing in Texas: Two teens charged


Sky News
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 07:49 UTC
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© FacebookCorriann Cervantes was found in vacant apartment.
A 15-year-old girl's body is found in a vacant apartment with an upside down crucifix carved into her stomach, prosecutors say

Two teenagers have been charged with killing a 15-year-old girl in what investigators believe was a murder motivated by an occult ritual.

Corriann Cervantes was found dead in a vacant apartment in Houston, Texas, on Saturday with an upside down crucifix carved into her stomach.

Seventeen-year-old Jose E Reyes and a 16-year-old boy have been charged with capital murder over her death.

Harris County prosecutor John Jordan said Reyes told his 16-year-old friend he had sold his soul to the devil, and if they killed Corriann, his friend could sell his soul as well.

Mr Jordan said the 16-year-old suspect gave a recorded confession to police, telling investigators Corriann attempted to flee when she was attacked.
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Display

Do not feed the trolls: Online trolls are psychopaths and sadists, psychologists claim

Kashmira Gander
Independent
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 10:35 UTC
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© Unknown.Canadian psychologists analyzed the behavior of internet trolls according to psychology's "Dark Tetrad".
Canadian researchers have confirmed what most people suspected all along: that internet trolls are archetypal Machiavellian sadists.

In a survey conducted by the group of psychologists, people who partake in so-called trolling online showed signs of sadism, psychopathy, and were Machiavellian in their manipulation of others and their disregard for morality.

The researchers defined online trolling as "the practice of behaving in a deceptive, destructive, or disruptive manner in a social setting on the Internet" for no purpose other than their pleasure.

To achieve the results, the team asked internet users about subjects including how much time they spend online, and whether they comment on websites such as YouTube.
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Airplane

Severe turbulence injures 5 on Beijing bound flight forcing the plane to return to New Jersey

David Bailey
Reuters
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 10:09 UTC
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Three flight attendants and a number of passengers were injured after a United Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence as it approached a Montana airport, an airline spokesman said on Tuesday.

One passenger, Bill Dahlin, told Billings television station KTVQ there was a lot of screaming when the airplane dropped sharply during its descent on Monday, and a woman struck her head on the ceiling so hard a panel cracked.

The three flight attendants and two passengers were taken to a hospital after the incident on the flight to Billings, Montana, from Denver, Colorado, United said in a statement. One flight attendant remained hospitalized on Tuesday, United said.

"Our primary focus is assisting our employees and passengers who were injured, and our flight safety team will review what happened," United said in its statement.

There were 114 passengers and five crew members aboard the airplane, a Boeing 737-700, which left Denver just before midday on Monday and landed in Billings at 1:23 p.m. local time, United said.
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