Maybe Higher Food Prices Are Actually Good For Us as a Society

I don't think we need a swift kick, I think we need to get smart. Smart about our leaders, read and think through issues, and turn off the media. We are being led around like sheep. Even the so-called "green" movement is politically motivated. Sure save, but don't make it into a religion. There's more to life than that. I drive 200 miles each day because I HAVE TO. There are no jobs in my area. My 4 hr daily commute feeds my family and pays my bills. Geez, everyone doesn't live in the "city", wear black, has the retro "unkempt" look, and frequent coffee shops. Maybe I'm just angry today. Maybe I'll fire up my F-250 and go down the road and kill groundhogs.

I agree with you, particularly about the entertainment value of CNN, which is what prompted me to read your article. It's actually healthier for our society to be taking less wasteful measures. We definitely could have used this wakeup call, and gas prices in America are still far lower than in other countries. However, the impact on emerging economies is also real, which is what Dan White emphasized. People who are subsiding on $1 a day are drastically impacted by food inflation, although I don't think that's the point or the target of your article. For wasteful American's, it's the swift kick in the pants we needed.

Great points here. My family and I just moved across the country and I gotta say that we are feeling the crunch. I took a decent pay cut to move here, like half! So I would have to work twice as much to make the same amount..insane! Glad I'm not having to do that, but I empathize with the people who do it every week.

Drink water instead of soda. Its not quite free, but in my area its like $3.50 per 1000 gallons.

Seriously though, I am getting sick of people complaining that they have to actually cook at home and eat their left overs. I've been doing that forever. We eat out from time to time, but as a luxury, not as a supposed time saver. My wife and I spend an average of $6 a day to feed ourselves all three meals, and we eat healthy too. fresh fruits and veggies every day, barely anything out of a can or box.

Somebody should tell those people to get a rice cooker for Pete's sake!

I hope more people think twice before they toss their leftovers in the trash, but others are in situations where grocery hikes hurt dearly. I think rising prices is good in some respects and not so good in others.

Wow, Chris was pretty down on things, although he makes some valid short term predictions. Loko at American Axle now. My neighbor will be moving to one of the other plants out of state that her company owns because the union won't accept a $20-$30 dollar an hour wage.

What I find somewhat unfortunate is that nobody seems to acknowledge the real effects of inflation and how it impacts the world. Our Federal Reserve Chairman INTENTIONALLY caused this inflation in order for our exports to increase. It has been tried before by other nations and they have ended up moving backwards.

Rising food costs occur before everything else because crops take from a few months to a year to turnover. The next thing that will happen is that labor unions will demand higher wages in the next 3-5 years when their current contracts expire. After that, there will be major banking troubles in 20-30 years due to mortgages being lent out when the dollar was actually worth something more than toilet paper.

Lets not forget who this hurts the most, though. The more the dollar decreases in purchasing power, the more people who are already on the verge of starving, die.

Even more sad is the fact that a democratic president and congress would end up kicking the economy when it is down.

I have to agree with the overall point here. Complaining about having to eat leftovers is ridiculous (and it's the lazy choice--amazing more people aren't into them already!). The trend toward cooking at home is also probably one of the most accidentally healthy things our generation could experience. But I do worry when a gallon of soda costs pretty much pennies and a gallon of milk costs $5.

Seems that the locally grown foods should be cheaper (less transportation costs), but that does'nt seem to be the case.

The article is not bad, although not very well thought out. But the author, who bitches and moans ad nauseum about CNN, my never have experienced real news crap. Try Fox. Try ABC. Get a grip.

While I agree higher food prices will definitely encourage higher efficiency there is one big problem. Not everyone lives in developed countries. Many countries such as Vietnam, the Philippians, Egypt and more already feel the burden of rising food prices. I believe prices will settle down eventually but it's always good no avoid waste.

This is a tough one because on the one hand, I think of my grandparents who lived through the Depression Era and are leaps and bounds more conscious consumers than our generation. On the other hand, what do you think a price hike at the grocery store is going to do for fast food restaurants that offer burgers for a dollar a piece? I doubt this will solve our nation's problem with obesity.

Food in America is NOT expensive. I am not originally from here and have lived in different parts of the world and so am able to compare.

I think the problem is that many items have been just way too cheap here for a long time and perhaps prices are now becoming more realistic? Try paying over 8 dollars per gallon of gas like you would in England!

At some level because food and other items have been so inexpensive and credit was readily available, I think that many Americans have been living beyond their means for a long time.

I really welcome the end of the "I deserve it/I'm entitled" phase to be honest!

As Americans we're not allowed to complain about food (or fuel) prices until our government stops subsidizing our farmers. Try living in Burkina Faso where subsidized American corn is being dumped at a price that undercuts the cost at which local producers can grow it.

I agree- these articles are some of the most ridiculous pieces of "journalism" I have ever seen.

We were ALREADY doing all of those things (common sense), that's why we can save so much money!

Thank you for highlighting exactly the reason I don't watch CNN! These idiots they always find are then seen by the world as the "average American" - and seen by Americans that way, giving us permission to be our worst possible selves.

Perhaps high food prices will help with the childhood (and adulthood!) obesity issues as well. I think that's a long shot. Still, when people are ready, there are tools out there - I just posted my impressions of Fitday over at The Art of Zen Living.

This is exactly the thought I had when my wife told me about this story. Any sensible person has been doing the things highlighted in the story (ex the homemade laundry detergent making - that's out there) all along.

This reminds me of a person who worked for me once. She was complaining about her pay, which I felt was fair and normal. She was telling me a sob story and mentioned how she couldn't eat out with her kids anymore, she couldn't afford gas to bring her kids to school and how her husband was in jail for some reason. Uhh ya, maybe she should just stop eating out and her husband should stay out of jail. He was likely the real cause of her problems anyway not the pay. The story gets way better. I almost choked on my water when I saw her pull up in her car a few days later. I kid you not, it was a lincoln navigator with monster truck tires. Shes a tiny woman with a kid in the passenger seat and she was driving this 13mpg, $50,000 sooped up truck. She watches too much CNN.

I look forward to $5+/gallon gasoline soon. I want to hear lard-ass America cry and whimper when they have to put their a$$es on bicycles every morning to get themselves to work. I don't wish to see any outright suffering, but a bit of struggling is past due.

And Amanda wins.

Llama also has a point...some people don't have as much room in their food budgets. Ours was pretty tight and I know people whose is tighter. But CNN...yeah.

Perhaps it's good for those who are being very wasteful with their food. But people who are already taking all the smart measures are definitely hurting. I have family members who are *really* struggling to feed multiple kids on their incomes... certainly not a fun situation.

But I guess it's much like the gasoline situation. Higher gas prices are good in theory... but in practice it's terrible for individuals.

The problem with rising food costs is not so much in this country as in places where people are already on the verge of starvation. Food is still very inexpensive for Americans, depending on what and how you eat of course. You can buy rice and oats for about 7 cents a serving. Unlike gasoline, which we all have to buy no matter what the price, there are lots of choices where food is concerned. You don't even need milk, for example so if it goes to $10 a gallon, you can always just get your calcium and protein from other much cheaper sources. Staples, like rice, beans, lentils, can't and won't go too high because they are grown in many areas, so we are not held hostage to buying our food from one or two countries. You can buy oats from Brazil, Canada, the US, and a dozen other places, so the price isn't likely to go too high..maybe 8 cents a serving with inflation. It is rather short-sighted to be using corn to make energy though, since corn is a food directly or indirectly for humans.

Thanks for the book suggestion. I'll have to add that to my reading list. And as you say, yes, there will be certain countries and demographics that will be stressed by higher prices. But for sake of argument within context of the various articles you see in news outlets, I was focusing on the average American.

I think it was in the CNN article as well, that someone commented to the fact that "Why spend 22 dollars to order a pizza, when you can just make one at home for 10 dollars?" I think that is the shift in thinking that will ultimately benefit the average person as a whole. If they can identify that it is stupid to pay double for something they could do just as well at home.

The ease of accessing and the low cost these conveniences have really built some very bad habits over the past few decades. It would probably do everyone good to eat a few less packaged meals and slow down and enjoy life a little more. Not only will you save money, but you'll probably see other improvements in your quality of life overall.

Well, for America it might benefit us as you state above and also that there are so many Americans struggling with obesity. It's seriously retarded that there has been so much food in America that people eat to excess and then PAY to get that fat off our bodies at the gym or fad diets or Weight Watchers, etc.

But the flip side is other nations that are less well off as us, these food prices will hurt them worse than us. What we really have is a food imbalance where we still have way too much food relative to our population.

Check out the book Hungry Planet to see this visually.

I think the mentality behind the people they interview for these stories is the same as for a lot of (most?) people who took out subprime mortgages. They think they're "expected" to spend at certain levels - have a certain type of house or drink a certain type of wine or eat at certain restaurants - and they never stop to think about how it's going to be paid for it. Laziness is a factor and so is being uneducated - today (and for our generation) we aren't used to thinking about the long term effects of spending at "expected" levels. We're used to thinking that we "deserve" it or that we've "earned" it, even if we can't make the numbers work out.
Webomatica makes a good point - we also don't realize the effect that our spending has on the global economy. Time magazine ran some of the pictures from Hungry Planet, and seeing what other people live on is truly humbling.
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html
How much of the current food prices are because of the fact that people in more developed countries think that we "deserve" the option of 10 different kinds of bread and the ability to drive SUVs?

Basically, I think that GenXers have become accustomed to spending at certain levels, without asking any questions. Even though I try to fight this urge, I place myself firmly in this category - Are the 20 pairs of shoes I've accumulated over the past 5 or 6 years really necessary?