MaxRedline

Onions Ain't Easy

A new rail shipping center is expected to be constructed and will function via a partnership between onion shippers, Malheur County, Americold, and Union Pacific Railroad. However, some officials were under the impression that dirt would be moving by now, and the delay has onion suppliers wondering if they will be able to ship the next harvest from the new location.

They're a big crop in Oregon, but shipping them out has long been problematic.  The planned rail center there should speed the logistics up - but only if they can get the darned thing built and running smoothly. That's always been a problem for farmers in the arid lands around Malheur County, and one that isn't going away soon enough for the cash-strapped area. We'll just have to see how the project ultimately pans out for them; the area's got a lot of history behind it. Pretty part of the state, but nothing's ever come easy out there.

Malheur's a very large county; its name, however, is French for "bad water".

 

General Mills To Increase Prices

It's not just cereal, and prices will be hiked by around 20% starting mid-January.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/11/23/report-general-mills-will-raise-prices-up-to-20-percent-in-january/

General Mills is the latest company to announce its prices will rise next year, indicating that the issue of rising prices across the country is not going away soon. Procter & Gamble, Tysons, and Kraft Heinz have also announced price hikes, which will affect middle-class families. Earlier in November, the Department of Labor released data that showed nearly every price for breakfast items such as whole milk, eggs, bacon, juice, and coffee also rose sharply compared to last year. 

Might want to stock up now....

Some of the company’s rising prices will include brands such as Annie’s, Progresso, Yoplait, Fruit Roll-Ups, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Wheaties, Reese’s Puffs, and Trix, according to the report.

The letter from General Mills indicated that the rising cost of goods was in response to the higher cost of materials and labor.

 

 

Some Things Never Change

Turkeys are too expensive says Elizabeth Warren. However, instead of focusing on WHY the cost of a turkey and all the trimmings has gone up, she wants to go after the turkey producers. Yup. Turkeys, potatoes, lettuce - you name it; they've all gone up in price at the grocery check-out. I doubt that she's ever set foot inside a grocery store. It's just easier to blame corporations. https://victorygirlsblog.com/elizabeth-warren-blames-turkeys-for-inflation-woes/

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Monday called on the Justice Department to open a broad investigation on the impact of price- fixing and consolidation in the poultry sector on consumers and farmers.

The former Democratic presidential candidate also urged the department’s Antitrust Division to review “with suspicion” any large mergers in the industry, after Cargill Inc and Continental Grain said in August they would buy chicken company Sanderson Farms (SAFM.O) for $4.53 billion.

Warren said in a letter that consumers are paying higher prices because of excessive consolidation, price-fixing and “plain-old corporate greed.”

 

Why They Come

Migrants from Central America are rushing to the U.S. illegally not because of violence or natural disasters in their home countries but because of jobs, a major new study found, challenging claims that they are asylum-seekers fleeing persecution.

The study also calculated that migrants from the emigration hubs of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala pay smugglers $1.7 billion a year to be shepherded into the U.S. illegally.

The analysts conducted a 5,000 in-person survey in the spring and ran an online survey with more than 6,000 responses, building a broad picture of the factors pushing people to leave. They concluded that while violence and insecurity are “longstanding triggers” for migration, most people cited economic reasons for wanting to leave. “Low wages, unemployment and insufficient income to cover basic necessities directly affected people’s livelihoods and contributed significantly to the desire to emigrate,” the analysts said.

The report challenges the vision of the Biden administration, which argues violence and insecurity are pushing folks to leave their homes and head north and characterizes many of the migrants as asylum-seekers.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/nov/23/major-study-undercuts-biden-explanation-surge-ille/

It may not be easy to get here, but in countries where the average income is around $2500 a year, American pay-scales make it worth a try for most. And it makes a lot more sense than the spin Biden keeps trying to peddle.

 

 

 

Bidenomics: Energy

The Biden administration is reviewing shutting a pipeline in Michigan after anonymously sourced reports said federal officials were quietly studying its potential environmental impact, a White House spokeswoman confirmed on Nov. 8.

When pressed by a reporter during a news conference, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre disputed reports saying President Joe Biden was going to terminate Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 pipeline, which stretches from Canada into Michigan. However, she conceded that the Army Corps of Engineers was reviewing the matter.

“Yes, we are. We are,” Jean-Pierre said. “I thought you were saying that we were going to shut it down, but that is not inaccurate. The Army Corps of Engineers is preparing an environmental impact [statement] to look through this.

On Nov. 7, Politico reported that the administration was weighing the potential market effects of a shutdown of the pipeline in the face of Republican, Canadian government, and industry opposition. More than a dozen GOP lawmakers last week sent a letter to President Joe Biden, warning that the move would further cause gas prices to increase amid already-high prices.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/biden-admin-weighing-shutting-down-another-pipeline-white-house-confirms_4092918.html?

No big deal; it only carries half a million gallons per day from Canada to the USA....

 

Back To The Drive-Thru

Supply chain issues, labor shortages and COVID restrictions continue to ail industries across the globe, with COVID restrictions keeping locations closed and vaccine mandates depleting capable staff for locations. With Joe Biden’s proposed OSHA federal vaccine mandate slated to fine businesses of 100 or more employees to check for proof of vaccination, the amount of jobs in jeopardy exceeds the tens of thousands.

“In the U.S., roughly 3,000 McDonald’s dining rooms remain closed in areas with high Covid-19 infection rates, or roughly 20 percent of locations,” says the WSJ report.

No word on what Ronald McDonald's doing these days.

 

Cold Ahead

The average heating cost for a U.S. household is forecast to see a double-digit increase this winter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its October winter fuels outlook (pdf).

Retail energy prices are expected to approach “multiyear highs” due to supply and demand changes following the pandemic, as well as a colder winter ahead.

Forecast cost hikes include propane by 54 percent, heating oil costs by 43 percent, natural gas costs by 30 percent, and electricity costs by 6 percent. Nearly half of all U.S. households use natural gas as the primary source of heating. 

Time to split a few more logs, just in case.

 

Double Whammy For New Orleans?

Hospitals in New Orleans are bracing for public health emergencies on two fronts as Hurricane Ida threatens to strike at the same time as Louisiana is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases.

New Orleans is in the midst of a “severe outbreak” with a seven-day average of 220 new infections, according to the city’s Covid-19 dashboard. Across the state, more than 3,400 new cases were confirmed as of Friday, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. At least 2,684 people are hospitalized in Louisiana with Covid-19.

As if Covid wasn't bad enough, it looks as though they'll be dealing with a category 4 hurricane as well. It might be a good time to  bunch it for a few days, until Ida moves on through.

 

Moving On Up

Retail workers across the US are abandoning low-paying jobs at stores and restaurants for new opportunities.

Look for more robots to fill these slots.

 

Build More Trains!

Transit agencies around the USA continue to push for more big-money projects - more light rail, even though they're broke and ridership has declined dramatically.

Reeling from the pandemic, transit agencies are grappling with drastic reductions in ridership and pleading for help from Washington. In Boston, transit officials warned of ending weekend service on the commuter rail and shutting down the city’s ferries. In Washington, weekend and late-night metro service would be eliminated and 19 of the system’s 91 stations would close. In Atlanta, 70 of the city’s 110 bus routes have already been suspended, a move that could become permanent.

In general, low-income people are the most dependent upon buses and trains.

Not necessarily; In Portland, the big push from TriMet involves building a multi-billion-dollar light rail line to take riders from the downtown area to a large, wealthy suburban shopping mall called Bridgeport Village. We may have voted it down, but TriMet will likely push it through anyway.

 

First Century B.C.

California's trying to catch Venezuela, but they've still got a ways to go to match the decline.

People in the oil-rich nation of Venezuela are reportedly riding donkeys as an alternative method of transport amid chronic gasoline shortages caused by the socialist regime’s destruction of the state-run oil company. “Venezuelans are now centuries behind, riding donkeys, burning firewood, and sleeping in the dark,” he wrote. “The setback is so great that in the days of slavery, slaves earned what they needed to eat every day, and here a day’s salary doesn’t even buy breakfast.”

The reported use of donkeys for transportation is connected to the lack of energy sources plaguing the country, despite the fact it has the second-largest largest oil reserves in the world after America. This is mainly the result of a collapse in production caused by many facilities belonging to state-run Petroleum of Venezuela (PDSVA) running at a low capacity or completely out of operation.

Hmm...why do you think California "governor" Newbie (King Gavin) has issued an edict banning gas/diesel powered vehicles in the next 15 years?