Gross

Not like my last post, but gross as in versus net.

My daughter and I were eating at Cracker Barrel last night. Always great food but the gravy was rather tasteless. But let me tell you - put a pack of Splenda into a small bowl of grits, very yummy!

We were seated so that I faced the kitchen door and could see partly inside where everything was prepped. On a small whiteboard were written daily goals. These were dollar amounts for each meal and I can only assume that they represented the amount of food they hoped to sell. Since what I saw might be considered proprietary information; suffice it to say, I think Cracker Barrel must be doing very well in this sluggish economy. Add to those numbers what I'm sure they glean from their nifty retail operation, multiply that by the hundreds of franchises lining the interstates of America and I doubt Mr. Cracker and Mrs. Barrel are waiting for their bail out or stimulus checks. And we of course contributed our small part to their ongoing success.

Recession? What Recession?

First off I am no economist and don't really understand markets, commodities - how all the things are supposed to work. But I am hearing/reading that we are in or very near a recession once again. My limited vocabulary says that in a recession there is no growth. I believe that one - if it explains why I haven't had a raise of any decent amount in years. But I also thought that in a recession, prices remained stable or perhaps even dropped somewhat as interest went lower etc. I may have this all backwards.

But two major things jump out at me. 1) Gas prices. They are once again creeping down ever so slightly but this after a really big jump to almost $3/gal. late in 07. We are still only down to the low 2.70s now. 2) Feed.

I bought a ton (literally 2000 lbs.) of feed today for our sheep and 2 cows. In December I paid $4.75/50 lb. bag. Today for the same mix I paid $5.20. That's 45 cents or almost 10%! Holy cow! I tried to talk to the feed store people about commodity pricing and ethanol but I got in way over my head in a hurry so made a hasty and tactful retreat.

I guess I don't understand why if the powers-that-be want our economy to grow, why are prices going up? If they want to stimulate spending of the supposed tax rebate we may end up getting, shouldn't part of the goal be to keep prices at least flat?

And I am more confused than ever about ethanol. If indeed this is why my grain went up 10%, where did this extra go? If it went to a farmer who has been trying to make a living growing corn for his whole life, then you know what? I can handle that. But if it went to big corporate farms who are getting subsidized by the Govt. to grow corn, so they can in turn use up scarce groundwater to make a fuel that is only marginally cheaper but in the long run uses more resources and provide LESS mpg. than regular reduced octane unleaded already does - then I think that is patently unfair. I want my money back!

A politically savvy friend told me today that he thinks Romney is going to win because he is the one who can with some degree of confidence and believability, say to Americans, "I can get us out of this mess."

I don't know. I'm not a Romney fan but if he is the choice of the GOP against almost anybody from the other side, then ...