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Food Inflation 'Far Greater' Than Government Admits
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.
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.
© Adam Gault / OJO Images / Getty Images
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 . . . .
Timothy Antonio Diggs, 22
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.
© Unknown
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.
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.
Hypocrite. Harry bags a water buffalo to save the animals.
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.
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
© FacebookCorriann Cervantes was found in vacant apartment.
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.
© Unknown.Canadian psychologists analyzed the behavior of internet trolls according to psychology's "Dark Tetrad".
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.
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