When It Rains It “Poors”

Maybe you don’t live in the Midwest and are not wading through feet and feet of flood water. However, the implications of this devastation are not confined to those fighting the water. Short term effects of this flooding are of course the plight of 38,000 homeless Iowans and the countless businesses lost. My heart goes out to all the sufferers.

However, the effects of the Midwest flooding will soon be seen by all of us in the grocery store. For instance, the 1.3 billion acres of corn destroyed by the flooding will leave a serious void and skyrocket the already record high price of corn products. Items like soda, candy bars, cereal, corn chips, etc that are made using corn syrups are also going to be affected and thus increase in price. The price of meat will rise as farmers reduce the size of their herds to save money on feed made from corn.

On talk radio I hear people calling in everyday that they cant afford the rising cost of food due to gas prices and are skipping meat at many meals to save money. The bad thing is we are paying more than we ever have for gas plus paying more for any object transported by gas – this includes our food. In the coming months many are going to find it hard just to afford the gas to get to the grocery store, but even if you can afford to get there what will you buy? Probably not anything made of corn unless you are a millionaire. To add to the problem gas jumped twenty two cents in Iowa and delivery trucks are being rerouted due to flood areas. These increase cost is going to be passed on the remaining agriculture sects and then again passed on to the consumers.

Let me add one more little insult to your pocketbook. Flooding will also affect the cost of the corn used for Ethanol production of gasoline. No doubt adding again to the increase cost of U.S. gas products.

So when it rains it “poors“.