Why are food prices out of control? | The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ft. Michael Pollan

I got tired of doing nothing: I gave up meat, dairy, and eggs, took out half the backyard to grow fruit & vegetables, and started cooking. I am now healthier at 70 than I was at 50. 💚

We need food, we need shelter, and sooner or later we need healthcare. They are price gouging us on all three, because no one is stopping them.

Years ago, when I was growing up, companies would triple their prices on sugar, coffee, flour, butter, peanut butter, and cheese. The consumers boycotted the products. Yes, nobody purchased the products. It sat on the shelf. I can remember my mom not being able to bake, dad not having sugar for his tea, and no PB sandwiches.After months of boycotting, prices came down. We need to stick together.

Instead of trying to impeach anyone, congress should be investigating these companies that are price gouging.

Quit calling it Inflation, IT IS PRICE GOUGING ! ! !:face-orange-raised-eyebrow:

We are in a sewer of toxic greed.

I am 70 year's old and I don't remember being this frighten about the costs of living. If these price gouging big corporations and companies are not stopped I will be homeless in two year's. I can't believe our politicians are letting this happen without investigating the record-breaking profits and prices gauging. It must be because they all make a high wage and get free health care for life.

America is currently plagued by the hydra-headed evil duo of inflation and recession. The worst part about this recession is that consumers are racking up credit card debt. In April alone, credit card debt went up 20% while rates have doubled in a year. Inflation is so high that consumers are literally taking debt for basic life necessities. Collapse has indeed begun..

As a small farmer in east-central Nebraska, there's so much I could write on this, but I'll keep it to a few points. By small, we have 160 acres--for someone from a city, that sounds like a lot but in the farming community where families these days typically own between 2,000-50,000 acres, we are a blip on the screen. The only reason I can be here is because I am inheriting the land from my parents. The cost of land in my area, which is not even the best in our region, is inflated by both in-state and out-of-state people that bid the land into something unreachable. Another 160-acre quarter-section just a mile from me recently went for over $14,000/acre or over $2 million. I can't buy that. I can't finance that. I can't even sniff that. And I have a farm right here. Do you think someone who would like to just get into the farming community could afford that? Absolutely not. And the equipment to farm it? Nope. So if a small farmer cannot get any bigger, and if someone trying to get into farming cannot afford it, what happens? The big get bigger, or someone out-of-state buys it and rents to the highest bidder--again, someone who already farms more than they could ever possibly need to make a living. This not only pushes kids away when they get out of high school, but it keeps new blood from coming in. It also means that since they paid so much for the land, they are 'forced' to plant cash crops capable of bringing the most bang for their buck with minimal effort or input--namely corn and soybeans (or whatever other regional crops in other areas). It's always been said that if the gov't subsidized fruits and vegetables the same way they did corn and soybeans, farmers would be growing that instead.... yes and no. There's something to be said for being able to plant with a 24-row planter in a few hours and then move to the next field and so on, especially if you have 10,000 acres to get in. And that goes for animal agriculture as well. Around here, our 'esteemed' Governor has hog confinements all over the place. Back even just 30 years ago, a small farmer could raise a few hundred head a year and make some extra money to go along with the crops. But the more and more Pillen, and people like him, have industrialized that, they make contracts with the meat packers and the price plummets. Why does WalMart have low prices? So they can sell a billion of some cheap piece of junk and make a few pennies per item; but the sheer amount nets them a big profit. Same with hog confinements (or chickens, turkeys, etc). For us, it wasn't worth the hassle or time involved for a slim profit--much less if something happened, then you are in the hole. There are exceptions to the rule of course, but they aren't always locally available to some folks. I could go on and on and on, but it looks like I've already wrote more than anyone will probably read, so I'll stop there. Thank for all that you do, folks

48 years old and walking around the grocery store with a calculator like I did when I was in college I had hoped life would be better by now. 😢

Unfortunately, local produce & meat often cost a lot more, making it difficult for people on tight budgets. Make it illegal for corporations to make “donations” to politicians & political campaigns! No more payoffs from lobbyists!

71 years old and walking around the grocery store with my brain like I did in my California college. 10 items = $5, give or take a dollar. Before the pandemic in NYC (2019), it was about $3.50 an item and add $10, or about $45, with coupons and sales. Now those 10 items are more than $5 each and add $15 (or $20 to be safe), or about $75! That’s a HUGE price increase, especially since there are no supply chain issues anymore. No competition is a license for price gouging, especially when you (Big Business) can buy a Congressperson for pocket change.

Unfortunately I’ve said it before: greed will destroy this country.

Michael Pollan talked about oligopolies, The Sherman Antitrust Act, and Teddy Roosevelt in ways I haven't heard in the media for a long time. And he gives Biden due credit. Great guest. Voters should listen to him.

I live in northwest Montana, and FWIW I'm 100% for sure voting for Senator Tester.

I've been running a small business for about 20 years. When I started it was because of the lack of quality I witnessed in corporate produced products. I've been doing very well and expanding my business one small step at a time, keeping a minimum 35 percent profit margin but never going over 50 percent. My philosophy is that I wanted to build better products at a fair price that benefited both the consumer and my business. When COVID happened and wood prices skyrocketed, I had to raise my prices a little and lower my profit margin to keep myself and everyone happy. I managed to keep my business going to this day just being fair to people and myself. Greed can only last if the consumer lets it continue. I have kept one guiding rule for my business besides not price gouging, I never sell my products to corporations, franchises and Mom and Pop type stores are my customers and I help them fight back against the corporate greed by only selling to them.

Unregulated capitalism has turned our economic and production systems upside down.

Because corporations are out of control!

I got this! GREED! Save yourself a half hour! Prices are up because of corporate GREED!! Period! They gouged us during the pandemic and lied about dwindling supplies, and they’ve just kept it going!!

Thank you for bringing this back to public attention! I've been trying to tell whomever will listen... This is the new age of the Robber Barons!