Is there an impending food shortage coming?

[Anonymous]

Where I live, our Kroger chain is striking because workers got a .17 raise while the CEO received a 45% raise to 23 million a year. They can't get regular scheduling so they can plan for child care, and they are required to take split shifts. That Kroger chain (King's) is the most common one here in Denver. So everyone's trying to go to Safeway instead, where the shelves are half empty.

I may never go back to Kroger. Consider how they treat their workers when you make your shopping decisions. They are offering scabs $18 an hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where I live, our Kroger chain is striking because workers got a .17 raise while the CEO received a 45% raise to 23 million a year. They can't get regular scheduling so they can plan for child care, and they are required to take split shifts. That Kroger chain (King's) is the most common one here in Denver. So everyone's trying to go to Safeway instead, where the shelves are half empty.

I may never go back to Kroger. Consider how they treat their workers when you make your shopping decisions. They are offering scabs $18 an hour.

Harris teeter is owned by Kroger. If you would like to avoid supporting the company locally.

[Anonymous]

I also want to add....I find these labor shortages SO WEIRD for a capitalist market economy. No workers? Capitalism says pay them more!!

When I lived in the Soviet Union, shortages were common -- but it was pretty well acknowledged that no one was really working, because no one was really being paid. If shelves didn't get stocked, meh, people still went home at the end of their shift and no one bothered to hire anyone else because there was 0% unemployment because everyone was employed doing whatever non-work they were not-paid to do.

There are a LOT of downsides to capitalism, but one upside is that we are not supposed to have those problems. Just pay people more, give them better benefits, and they will work. Steal labor from other industries or competitors by out-paying them. At the moment, it's like we have this one-sided capitalism, where companies make profit by charging what the market will bear, but refuse to pay the wages the market demands. Maybe they need to raise prices more -- but I suspect they probably just need to cut profits more (even if that dampens the stock market somewhat -- sorry investors).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also want to add....I find these labor shortages SO WEIRD for a capitalist market economy. No workers? Capitalism says pay them more!!

When I lived in the Soviet Union, shortages were common -- but it was pretty well acknowledged that no one was really working, because no one was really being paid. If shelves didn't get stocked, meh, people still went home at the end of their shift and no one bothered to hire anyone else because there was 0% unemployment because everyone was employed doing whatever non-work they were not-paid to do.

There are a LOT of downsides to capitalism, but one upside is that we are not supposed to have those problems. Just pay people more, give them better benefits, and they will work. Steal labor from other industries or competitors by out-paying them. At the moment, it's like we have this one-sided capitalism, where companies make profit by charging what the market will bear, but refuse to pay the wages the market demands. Maybe they need to raise prices more -- but I suspect they probably just need to cut profits more (even if that dampens the stock market somewhat -- sorry investors).

It is really strange. And in some industries, like trucking, the degradation of wages and benefits are pretty recent. Long-haul trucking used to be a solid career, tough working conditions but I had several friends growing up who had dad's who were truckers and provided well for their families. Now, some amazingly high percentage of trucker positions turn over every year.

[Anonymous]

Not a big deal. We've been through that at the beginning of covid, in 2020. No need to panic.

[Anonymous]

If you buy so much food, shouldn't people be buying more toilet paper! Suddenly, we don't need to wipe our butts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also want to add....I find these labor shortages SO WEIRD for a capitalist market economy. No workers? Capitalism says pay them more!!

When I lived in the Soviet Union, shortages were common -- but it was pretty well acknowledged that no one was really working, because no one was really being paid. If shelves didn't get stocked, meh, people still went home at the end of their shift and no one bothered to hire anyone else because there was 0% unemployment because everyone was employed doing whatever non-work they were not-paid to do.

There are a LOT of downsides to capitalism, but one upside is that we are not supposed to have those problems. Just pay people more, give them better benefits, and they will work. Steal labor from other industries or competitors by out-paying them. At the moment, it's like we have this one-sided capitalism, where companies make profit by charging what the market will bear, but refuse to pay the wages the market demands. Maybe they need to raise prices more -- but I suspect they probably just need to cut profits more (even if that dampens the stock market somewhat -- sorry investors).

This is precisely what's happening in US service industries. If you pay people a living wage and give them decent benefits, they will fill those jobs. But employers want very cheap labor and big profits - it's just not sustainable anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We really screwed up immigration and Covid and now things are coming home to roost.

I support immigration, and my parents were immigrants. But take it up with the CEO's who don't want to pay Americans a living wage.

That just becomes more inflationary. Vicious cycle when the work force is stretched. I am all for a living wage, but it won’t change the food shortage. We need more workers. From other countries and from the US who are not sick.

You say we need more workers, but you don't think paying them a living wage will change things?

Where do you think food comes from, a magic wand?

The chain is broken, because people are sick of being paid peanuts with bad/no benefits, for backbreaking work. The entire chain is broken - from the pickers to the grocery workers. Treat them better, and the workers will come. But hey CEO's, might need to dial back on your yacht or summer home.

We do not have enough workers in the US. We need immigrants. And we need people who aren’t sick.

LOL you have no idea. Do you work in the grocery industry? Because I do. The people are there, there are plenty of workers, but they're fed up because of low pay and crappy conditions.

Fes up pp, you just want cheap slave labor, essentially.

Nope. I say raise the min wage a lot. Just know we then have to manage inflation even more by raising interest rates. And at some point, that can cause a recession. This is the job of the Fed. They have had it easy over the last decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We really screwed up immigration and Covid and now things are coming home to roost.

I support immigration, and my parents were immigrants. But take it up with the CEO's who don't want to pay Americans a living wage.

That just becomes more inflationary. Vicious cycle when the work force is stretched. I am all for a living wage, but it won’t change the food shortage. We need more workers. From other countries and from the US who are not sick.

You say we need more workers, but you don't think paying them a living wage will change things?

Where do you think food comes from, a magic wand?

The chain is broken, because people are sick of being paid peanuts with bad/no benefits, for backbreaking work. The entire chain is broken - from the pickers to the grocery workers. Treat them better, and the workers will come. But hey CEO's, might need to dial back on your yacht or summer home.

We do not have enough workers in the US. We need immigrants. And we need people who aren’t sick.

LOL you have no idea. Do you work in the grocery industry? Because I do. The people are there, there are plenty of workers, but they're fed up because of low pay and crappy conditions.

Fes up pp, you just want cheap slave labor, essentially.

Nope. I say raise the min wage a lot. Just know we then have to manage inflation even more by raising interest rates. And at some point, that can cause a recession. This is the job of the Fed. They have had it easy over the last decade.

We are paying people in some jobs way too much, and others not enough. WFH "office" jobs are overcompensated, and people who do manual labor, and in-person jobs are not getting paid enough.

The fact remains that different parts of the country cost significantly more to live in. $16.10 is the soon to be minimum wage in DC, but insufficient as a living wage for the DC area, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where I live, our Kroger chain is striking because workers got a .17 raise while the CEO received a 45% raise to 23 million a year. They can't get regular scheduling so they can plan for child care, and they are required to take split shifts. That Kroger chain (King's) is the most common one here in Denver. So everyone's trying to go to Safeway instead, where the shelves are half empty.

I may never go back to Kroger. Consider how they treat their workers when you make your shopping decisions. They are offering scabs $18 an hour.

Harris teeter is owned by Kroger. If you would like to avoid supporting the company locally.

Thank you for this information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who the hell eats mangos?

Tell me you’re white without telling me you’re white

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have some slight connections with food production industry. I expect short-term shortages of certain things as they need to shut down production lines due to labor shortages. Less selection/variety or weird one-off shortages.

But long term I am super worried about the fact that we live in a country that doesn’t produce much of our food, relies on underpaid labor and government subsidies that are inconsistent with our otherwise market economy, has a lot of potential hitches in the supply chain, and doesn’t seem to be accounting for the changing climate. It’s all very concerning.

Climate change is an issue, certainly. As is our lack of food production. When I moved to Florida, I expected the local markets to be stocked with local produce. Most of it seemed to come from Canada or Mexico.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We really screwed up immigration and Covid and now things are coming home to roost.

I support immigration, and my parents were immigrants. But take it up with the CEO's who don't want to pay Americans a living wage.

That just becomes more inflationary. Vicious cycle when the work force is stretched. I am all for a living wage, but it won’t change the food shortage. We need more workers. From other countries and from the US who are not sick.

You say we need more workers, but you don't think paying them a living wage will change things?

Where do you think food comes from, a magic wand?

The chain is broken, because people are sick of being paid peanuts with bad/no benefits, for backbreaking work. The entire chain is broken - from the pickers to the grocery workers. Treat them better, and the workers will come. But hey CEO's, might need to dial back on your yacht or summer home.

We do not have enough workers in the US. We need immigrants. And we need people who aren’t sick.

Because we support millions of people who don't work. Sorry, we don't need more immigrants. Let the companies automate and cut off welfare payments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who the hell eats mangos?

Tell me you’re white without telling me you’re white

I’m a lily white canadian living in the US and I eat mangos twice a week. Who doesn’t eat mangos? Are you in the Midwest and only eat meat and potatoes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who the hell eats mangos?

Tell me you’re white without telling me you’re white

I’m a lily white canadian living in the US and I eat mangos twice a week. Who doesn’t eat mangos? Are you in the Midwest and only eat meat and potatoes?

I'm white, from the Midwest and eat Mangos multiple times per day.

That person is clueless.