To All the Ships at Sea-
I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Republican, an Independent, a Communist, or you wet the bed. Let’s be clear on something – inflation is 2.9%. It almost never gets smaller than that. The reason the cost of meat, eggs, milk, and gasoline is high is because of five major corporations controlling the world. It’s not inflation.
The Company Mondelez International, for instance controls so many different products They make a nutritious fig bar for people who want something sweet and not gain much weight. The package is approximately 35% larger than the two little fig cookies. Wonder why? They not only raised the price but in some cases by doubling or more, thats not enough, they made the product smaller. But you say it’s the same calories. Yes. They just added a little bit more sugar.
Many people from Germany, France, Greece, Canada, and the United States, or wherever, are being controlled and manipulated by major corporations. Now if you are fortunate enough to own stock in some of these corporations, you may be kicking ass and taking names. However, majority of these people don’t have a way of making money in the stock market.
One of the oldest corporations in the United States was Hershey. As a child in the West Village, which was a long time ago, once a week my grandfather would take me to a candy store the size of a medium closet in a high rise today. He would buy me a Hershey bar for 5 cents. That Hershey bar would last me until the following week, when he’d take me back for another Hershey bar. That candy bar was ginormous! Yes, I was a little thing at the time, but I’m equating not only the size, the quality, and the nickel back in the 40’s- which is not the same as a nickel in the 2020’s – I got it!
When I was dealing with a year’s worth of chemo, once a week I would buy myself a giant Hershey bar and that would last me, believe it or not, a whole week. The cost of that bar was approximately $2.75. Not so much, it was reasonable (dark chocolate by the way). Fast forward to today, that same Hershey bar (not the same) is now $4.20 a bit more than a single Hershey bar was 25 years ago. Really works great if you own Hershey stock, I know.
Basically what I’m saying is this – these corporations are putting us up against the wall and killing us. I am a capitalist–by the way, and I don’t wet the bed (you’ll have to figure the rest out about me from the above other choices). Before anybody blames somebody for inflation, you have to study it.
Prime rib 20 years ago was $7.99 a pound. It’s now upwards of $32 a pound. When you ask the rancher, the rancher will tell you they’re not making any money. When you ask the slaughterhouses, they’ll tell you the same. You ask the butcher, he tells you the same. I want to know who the hell is making the money?
I’ve been out to dinner with five wonderful friends that are all affluent, and except for one (you know who you are), the meal would be chicken, turkey, pork, pasta, soup. My one dear friend puts out a prime rib to die for. The majority of people are trying to make things go a bit further.
I sometimes wonder how the majority of people can actually get through the night on their two, in some cases 3, job salaries. You better believe they’re not buying stock in these huge, multi-national corporations.
One way or another, we’re all going to pay for it in the final analysis. Maybe I’ll just have to go on a diet…
Joe DiMaggio 