food

Retail Sales Decline -0.3% for October 2012

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October 2012 Retail Sales decreased, by -0.3%, Autos & Parts alone dropped -1.5% while auto dealers, part of autos & parts sales, declined by -1.6%. Minus autos & parts, retail sales had no change from last month. September's monthly percentage change was revised upward, from 1.1% to 1.3%. Retail sales are reported by dollars, not by volume, so dropping prices often reports as a decline in sales.

Consumer Price Index had No Change, Core CPI up 0.2% for June 2012

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The June Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, was unchanged from May. The reason was gasoline prices, which dropped again, this time -2.0% from last month and up 1.7% for the year. Cheaper gas offset other increases. Below is the graph for CPI's monthly percentage change.

 

Retail Sales Increase 0.4% for January 2012

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January 2012 Retail Sales increased 0.4%. Minus autos & parts, retail sales increased 0.7%. December retail sales were revised down from 0.1% to 0%, or no change from the previous month. Retail sales are up 5.8% from the same time last year. Retail sales are reported by dollars, not by volume, so dropping prices often reports as a decline in sales.

 

Retail Sales for December 2011 Increase Only 0.1%, Give Lump of Coal to Wall Street

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December 2011 Retail Sales increased 0.1%. Minus autos & parts retail sales dropped -0.2%. November retail sales were revised up to 0.4% from 0.2%. Retail sales are up 6.5% from the same time last year. Electronics and Appliance stores plunged -3.9% during December, the holiday season. Gas sales dropped -1.6%. Retail sales are reported by dollars, not by volume, so dropping prices often reports as a decline in sales.

Inflation Indicator CPI Is Zero for November 2011, 3.4% for the Last 12 Months

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The November Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, had no change, or zero from last month. The flat line was caused by a -1.6% energy decrease for the month. Food increased 0.1%. Gas alone decreased -2.4% in a month and food at home, or groceries, decreased -0.1%. Eating out increased 0.3%. Core CPI, or price increases minus food and energy costs, rose 0.2%.

Retail Sales for November 2011 - 0.2%

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November 2011 Retail Sales increased 0.2%. October retail sales were revised up a 10th of a percentage point to 0.6%. Retail sales are up 6.7% from the same time last year. Electronics and Appliance stores shot up another 2.1% in a month, and were 20% of the total increase in retail sales. Autos still rule the retail world and sales by dealers was over half the increase by dollars of retail sales for November, a 0.7% increase from October.

14% of Americans are on Food Stamps

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Here's a statistic to go along with the unemmployment report. 14% of Americans are on food stamps with a 17% increase in one year. That's 42,389,619 people.

Idaho had a 38.8% yearly increase in food stamp use for the year. No state had a decrease.

The Wall Street Journal broke down the percentages of State populations on food stamps. By the way, the government calls this the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, which of course is nice and nondescript.

The district of Columbia has 21.7% of it's population on food stamps. Mississippi has 20.1% of it's population on food stamps. Tennessee, 20% and Oregon is 19.2%.

People are so desperate kids are coming in for school lunch, while school is out:

Even during the summer children returned to schools to take advantage of free lunch programs where they were available. Nearly 195 million lunches were dished out in August and 58.9% of them were free. Another 8.4% were available at reduced prices. That number will surge when the fall data are released because children will be back in school. Last September, for example, more than 590 million lunches were served, nearly 64% of which were free or reduced price.

Dramatic Food Inflation Predicted

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I don't care how Machiavellian you are as an investor, this story is not good and I sure hope all consider donating locally to food banks. While the world has over 1 billion people in hunger and the United States has surged past 35 million on food stamps with half of all children at some time being on them, we have these forecasts:

Rice may surge 63 percent to $1,038 a metric ton from $638 on Philippine imports and a shortage in India, a Bloomberg survey of importers, exporters and analysts showed. The U.S. government says nonfat dry milk may jump 39 percent next year, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. forecasts a 25 percent gain for sugar.

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