I'm writing this post on March 10th, having just heard that an important bank that funds investments in the tech economy based in Silicon Valley, central California, has gone belly up. Like in the Christmas film, It's a Wonderful Life, there has been a run on the bank, but it's not people physically going there expecting cash. Rather, upon hearing this was happening, people pulled their funds electronically. This bank failure is said to be the biggest since the crash that began The Great Depression. I spend some time listening to various opinions about what will happen next. By the time this posts, I/we will all know if that bank failure has had a "rolling effect."
This past week or two I experienced some telling signs that our economy is not healing from the ordeal of Covid, that inflation is beyond the high being reported.
First it was going to the grocery nearest me, which I should name but won't at this point, a store that I have long suspected is gouging customers who do not want to put in travel time or gas money to buy groceries. I'm signed up for this companies special discounts for those enrolled. They are trying to break the union by having people register themselves out and by having people come and pick up their purchases through a pre-ordering shopping system.
They also run coupons suggesting an item is free and usually there is such a run for it that that item that gets people in the store has run out before I get there. Last summer they had a free store brand Pizza which was usually marked at about $2 to $3 dollars. That same pizza was now marked at $6.99.
Seeing a box of 50 typical papery Made in China face masks for $5.99 there a couple months ago started me thinking they were gouging. Then I noticed their day old bakery items were marked double what they had been. The other day I went in to buy the laundry detergent I swear by, the Arm and Hammer 100 loads Unscented, which I last purchased for about $12 about a year ago. I was shocked to see this item marked at $23.00 for the same...
As a result I went to a pharmacy type store that is a chain about a half mile away. I searched for laundry soap and found NONE on the shelves. So I went to the register and asked if it was possible that the product was elsewhere in the store. Actually they had moved all the laundry detergent BEHIND THE REGISTER. The clerk told me this was because people were walking out - stealing - bottles of laundry detergent! They did not have my brand.
I went to another store and saw what appeared to be white eggs in cartons. It turned out that these fake eggs were crafts items ready for dying for Easter and offered as a substitute to those who CANNOT AFFORD REAL EGGS... There is no indication the price on eggs is coming down, and some brands are $9. to $12 a dozen for the real eggs. So kids will have fake eggs in their Easter baskets?
Finally a friend of mine headed for a senior center in another town where she was able to get some free groceries on Wednesdays. It turns out that, due to higher demand, they were going to do these food distributions by lottery and twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. This food comes in from an outside organization not a governmental agency. They pick up food that grocery stores are supposedly are ready to throw away. The higher demand is because the extra money put into the EBT food cards from the federal government of the United States for Covid relief ended. (This money also stimulated our economy.)
I needed some onions and also shopped for them. The store I suspect of gouging wanted $1.69 for a pound of white onions. The "Mexican Market" a small chain that is probably not unionized, had them for two pounds for $1 but I didn't have an hour for the round trip. I found them at a "dollar store" (where near nothing is a dollar and where the register always ads on a penny) where they were prebagged at three pounds for $2. At home I found one big onion in there appeared to be moldering.
A young woman I know who works as a waitress for a chain said business wasn't down but the tips were (while the sexual harassment by men was up.) Out to buy her own groceries after serving meals all day to others more fortunate, she loaded up on the cheap noodle soup packets for her own dinners.
As a result of all this, I'm going to try to post more recipes using food items that are often given out at food banks. Remember I have volunteered for a couple food distributions in recent years and have a good idea what is in those bags.
I will also be posting about EGG SUBSTITUTES for cooking soon.
During World War II, when food rationing was in place in England, they got one egg a week, one pint of milk, four ounces of meat... just barely enough... I believe people can make it through - when there is an end in sight.
Let us not forget that the Covid pandemic was very real. None of us could imagine when the first masking mandates began that we would be effected for YEARS.
I hope we are not headed for another Great Depression.
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