“I don’t know all of this with any certainty. Just trying to advance the conversation here.....”
You’re on the right track. People tend to see any price rise in familiar items as a result of inflation but food price hikes can be caused by crop failure or the killing off of animal herds for disease or because government regulation increases the costs of farmers.
Foreign demand also drives up our prices- we made China wealthy and they now compete with us to buy things, food included.
True inflation is a monetary event that causes widespread price hikes in everything, not just food or some other particular sector.
Inflation will reveal itself in rising interest rates because bond investors will demand an inflation premium. Interest rates have been miniscule since the beginning of Dubya’s term, this isn’t what you see in an inflationary environment.
bird flu causes egg prices to spike...but that’s not “inflation”...and so on.
good post...
personally...I think we are in a soft depression...