Posted on 03/20/2011 5:46:29 PM PDT by NRG1973
Look out! From Huggies diapers to Nike shoes, Americans are about to get less bang for their buck on some of the biggest brands.
This week, paper-products maker Kimberly-Clark announced plans to raise prices on diapers and toilet paper later this summer. Nike said it would increase prices on their shoes. And food companies Kraft, Smuckers and Heinz recently announced price hikes on some of their brands.
"The increases are necessary to offset inflationary pressure from higher raw material and energy costs," Kimberly-Clark (KMB, Fortune 500) said in a press release.
Huggies diapers and Pull-Ups prices will rise by 3% to 7%, the company said. Cottonelle and Scott 1000 toilet paper will rise about 7%.
Kraft Foods (KFT, Fortune 500) raised its price on Maxwell House coffee by 22%, or 70 cents per pound, after Smuckers (SJM) said last month it would raise the price of Folgers by 10%.
The increases come as major brands struggle to keep their profit margins intact, amid surging costs on raw materials. Producer prices rose 1.6% in February alone, the the biggest jump in nearly two years, according to government data released Wednesday.
Until recently, producers and retailers resisted price hikes, fearing they would lose customers during a still-sluggish economy and high unemployment.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
I eat seasonally, have a large garden and buy Wisconsin-made products whenever I can.
For example, lots of Wisconsin companies (along wtih local farmers markets) can provide me with foodstuffs:
Johnsonville Brats
Name ANY beer brewer you can think of, LOL!
Kraft Foods
Dean (Dairy)
Golden Guernsey (Dairy)
Birds Eye (frozen veggies/fruits)
Sargento Cheese
Jack’s Pizza
Great River Coffee (in Pepin, WI)
Organic Valley
Kelly Pickles
J.L. Richards (my local Butcher)
Ocean Spray (cranberries/juices, etc.)
Natural Ovens Bakery
Sparboe Farms (Eggs, but I also have laying hens)
Do a little searching close to home and support your local businesses, too. It’s pretty easy to do! :)
just got part of my garden tilled up today
glad i got seeds
now that it’s warming up got over 25 eggs today
Lawn care product “Sevin” for killing ants, fleas and grubs, in years past $15.97 for a 20 pound bag. I went to W-M to pick up my usual years supply of 6 bags. It’s still $15.97 but for a 10 pound bag.
Good for you. I have been making my own bread for years with a bread machine I got at Goodwill for $5. I also make my own freezer jams (very simple and delicious) and dehydrate then freeze all vegetables out of the garden that we don’t eat. If We didn’t live in the city and I could do more I would.
Love your tagline....
Core inflation is in check. But ask yourself how much political unrest is caused by rising equivalent rents, iPads, and machine tool prices vs rising food and energy prices.
I just read this quote from Loretta Lynn:
"I have grown a vegetable garden my whole life - heck that was the only way we'd all eat. I remember folks thought that was so country! Now it's in style."
*SMILE*
always has been here just getting more into it now
Women and minorities hardest hit.
There are a lot of people who are convinced that the 0bama administration is trying to eliminate the middle class.
My hens are just starting to lay again. Only one egg so far, but many more on the way as the days get longer!! I was going to buy chicks this spring, but 23 hens and two useless roosters are still plenty to keep me and mine in fresh eggs. :)
A while back I was thinking what I would most hate to do without that I couldn’t grow or hunt and toilet paper was #1 on the list so I have 3 years worth.
I’ve been stock piling. I doubled up the home brew and made 3 batches of hard cider this fall
Now, the real question will be whether the companies involved keep the packaging the same, and thereby make the price rise visible to the consumer, or will they reduce the content, but keep the prices the same, so the majority don’t realize they’re paying the same amount but getting less for it.
Heinz and Kraft might be able to, but Nike would have a rough time reducing the number of shoes in a box.
Absolutely. Adjusted for inflation, that's $31.33 today.
But the reason the left, and other Democracy hating types hate the middle class is because it is the sons and daughters of the American Middle Class that has been the biggest hurdle for despots when America confronts them. The sons and daughters of the American Middle Class provide the pilots, the sailors, and the fighting forces that are called upon to kick the butts of people like Saddam Hussein. America doesn't call upon the ghetto yutes. It doesn't call upon the 90210 kids. It calls upon the children of middle class.
If the middle class can be destroyed, it will be easier to form a military which can be turned against the people. It will be easier to turn the police into Government civil forces which will terrorize the people. People with no real stake in the future of the country can be more easily convinced to oppress their fellow citizens.
The collapse of the housing industry, and the vast destruction of retirement plans was a great victory for the left and their freedom hating allies. The middle class has taken a blow from which it may never recover.
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