It's still the economy, stupid!

Warmonger Joe Biden may be touting inflation being on hold in July, and will surely soon tout falling gas prices in August.

Not so fast, starting with the fact that the Consumer Price Index went up last month, even if only a small tick, when it was expected to drop.

Last week, in my area, gas prices went back up 30 cents a gallon, first. (That may be related to the Saudis and Mohammad bin Salman telling Warmonger Joe to go fuck himself, with a small CUT in oil production. This NYT story has that and more about MBS et al working with Putin on the latest round of OPEC+ activity.)

Second, inflation is more than gas prices. When the ounce-less-than-a-pint size of Shedd's Spread Country Crock is costing $2.49 and that's not in San Francisco or New York, you know food prices are a problem. Indeed, according to this story, in the past year, margarine has the second-highest price hike, just a tad behind eggs but a lot more than butter in No. 3.

(Sidebar: Feel free to hit the polls at right.)

The why on that particular item?

I'm guessing it's a mix of a couple of things.

One is that sunflower oil may be one of the oils used in Shedd's and other margarines. And, there's this certain country in southeastern Europe that is a major grower of sunflowers and exporter of sunflower products.

If not sunflower oil, corn oil is another constituent of many margarine-type products. Guess what country is a major grower of, and exporter of, corn?

I am not condoning Putin's invasion, and it's possible it still would have happened had NATO barked less, to use Pope Francis' phrase, at Russia. But, by the number and level of sophistication of weaponry Warmonger Joe has agreed to send or has already sent Ukraine, plus his statements on Putin, he is exacerbating the war. And, between Zelenskyy's corruption and both sides breaking the Minsk Agreements, for starters, we shouldn't be exacerbating the war. (And, not to go too much in the direction of Cucker Tarlson and Glenn Greenwald, but doesn't some of this make you wonder about Hunter Biden's laptop?)

Meanwhile, back here in Merika, drought has put a mild damper on the Midwestern harvest, though much less than like it has and did down here in Tex-ass. And, guess where you find soybean oil?

In some margarines, including ... Country Crock.

Meanwhile, Warmonger Joe should probably be glad Thanksgiving Day is after Election Day.

In my column for last week, I wrote about a pending turkey shortage. The local grocery store, which started as a German meat market, has traditionally done "turkey marks" during the fall. It's a punchcard system, where, after you buy enough groceries to get it totally punched up, you're eligible for a discounted whole turkey.

Not doing them this year. Can't get a guaranteed turkey supply.

So, I goggled. And, Minnesota, the nation's No. 1 turkey state, had a spring outbreak of avian flu and is fearing more this fall. Unmentioned was drought making the price of turkey feed cost more than chicken scratch. I'm sure it is. Per that story about the five biggest food hikes? Spiraling feed costs is what has driven up the price of eggs. That means, I would think, that if you do get a turkey, it's going to cost more in two ways, or else producers just aren't going to fatten them up as much.

Meanwhile, the problems behind the averted for now potential railroad strike show that high gas prices and Chinese lockdowns of port cities aren't the only things affecting product delivery and thus leading to inflation. And, if Amtrak Joe's fig-leaf settlement isn't accepted by railway workers, getting tubs of Country Crock or frozen Butterballs to your grocer will be even harder.