Forget gasoline, the real price shocker these days is milk.
$5.29.
Wait, let me repeat that. $5.29.
That’s what a gallon of no-fat organic milk costs where we buy groceries, Trader Joe’s. My wife and I decided long ago to let our girls only drink organic milk, which is more expensive than regular milk, which everyone knows can be fatal. Hormones and other stuff that ends up in milk can be harmful to kids. Had I known, though, I’d have to take out a home equity line of credit to buy the stuff, I might have decided that my daughter reaching hormone-induced puberty at age 8 wasn’t neccessarily a bad thing.
For that price, the Trader Joe’s staff should do a killer version of “And I Tell You I’m Not Going” from “Dreamgirls” and then give you a backrub.
Now comes the really bad news. It’s getting worse.
This from the AP: “Dairy market forecasters are warning that consumers can expect a sharp increase in dairy prices this summer. By June, the milk futures market predicts, the price paid to farmers will have increased 50 percent this year — driven by higher costs of transporting milk to market and increased demand for corn to produce ethanol.U.S. retail milk prices have increased about 3 percent, or roughly a dime a gallon, this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But University of Illinois dairy specialist Michael Hutjens forecasts further increases of up to 40 cents a gallon for milk over the next few months, and up to 60 cents for a pound of cheese. That would drive the cost of a gallon of whole milk around the country to an average of $3.78, based on the USDA’s monthly survey of milk prices in 30 metro areas.”
Analyists blame high gas prices and demand in China. I guess Chinese cows are too busy making Crocs shoes for 39 cents and selling them to American parents for $29.95.
The unfunny thing is milk is a crucial part of a child’s diet. Low income parents walk into a supermarket and see 89 cent liters of Coke and $4 gallons of milk. There is something seriously wrong with that. Milk should be an affordable staple of the family diet, not white gold.