Good News and Bad News Edition
Steve Dittmer | AFF Sentinel
Colorado Springs, CO
Originally sent to subscribers 05/28/24
Edi. Note: New York’s Governor characterized anyone who would go to a Trump rally as “clowns,” so we now have another inscription to add to our badge of honor. Hence our headline.
Before we discuss anything else, you people, your sons and daughters and, most importantly on this past weekend, your ancestors, are the ones who have made possible the individual liberties and group freedoms we enjoy today. Our thanks to them, our remembrance of their sacrifice, our thanks to the Good Lord for providing and inspiring them, on this holiday.
In the spirit of thanks and for some good news -- as a good friend of ours in Florida (Billy) requested -- some good news regarding the service, the nutrition and the enjoyment our industry provides the American people.
It’s appropriate on the re-start of the official grilling and smoking season -- we say re-start because snow doesn’t stop grilling and smoking at our house, that’s what snow shovels are for -- Cattle-Fax had some demand strength news this week. And you might have noticed the boxed beef prices getting above $300 again, reflecting consumer demand and consumption. One of our local supermarkets kept running out of their ribeye steak specials this week and we must not be alone.
Cattle-Fax noted that all-fresh beef prices came in at $7.95 for April, up 8.5 percent yr./yr. And that was with more tonnage on offer than last year. Apropos of something we will discuss shortly, inside that beef price number, Choice beef was up 3.8 percent while ground beef was up 9.3 percent.
You wouldn’t have thought it a few years ago, but a staple of the beef industry revenue flow and an important part of American lifestyles is shaping up to be a significant thorn in President’s re-election campaign. Americans are incensed about the cost of lots of things, caused by Biden and Congress’ spending-fueled inflation. But fast food, dominated by hamburgers, fries and shakes, is really pushing people’s buttons. It’s in the media constantly.
The capper came last week when Lending Tree -- not a notable food survey outfit but a national company none the less -- reported that 80 percent of those surveyed said fast food was now a luxury. The beef production chain is going to have to figure out how to deal with that. In fact, McDonald’s is catching heat because it’s rumored response of a $5.00 meal deal is only slated to run for a month. Burger King is already offering one and others will likely follow suit.
So, there’s good news and bad news there. People value our product enough to be quite upset when they can’t enjoy it often enough. But we don’t need pressure on our budget away-from-home segment. However, there are some fast casual restaurants with deals that are competitive with fast food menus, have slow periods to incentivize and don’t have the speed costs and pressures of a fast food line.
This will push some select automation in some areas that may help labor costs, improve consistency and -- time is money -- speed up the process.
Another good news-bad news opinion piece came out recently from one of the best known climate experts. Bjorn Lomborg is now a visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and he pointed out some hard facts that both governments and citizens worldwide are just now beginning to realize.
“A rapid transition from fossils fuels is, and always has been, impossible,” he said.
For one thing, the developing nations have never gotten serious about this obsession with emissions. They are dealing with daily life at a more elemental level, about poverty, hunger, disease, jobs, corruption and lack of education. The earth’s temperature rising a degree or two 50 or 100 years into the future just doesn’t rank on their list.
The major communist countries are not as interested and they are advanced enough to ascertain the cost. Lomborg pointed out McKinsey, the management consultant giant, calculates Russia would need to spend three-quarters of a trillion dollars/year, triple its military budget, in order to meet net zero by 2050. China would need to spend a trillion dollars/year. Concentrating on the next few decades, China is building coal plants right and left and renewable power sources are just ten percent of the mix, (“When the Only Problem Was Climate,” Wall Street Journal, 05/09/24).
Lomborg points out even the developed countries are not wading in tall cotton. The annual per capita growth in the West has dropped from four percent in the ‘60s, to two percent in the ‘90s to barely over one percent since 2000.
The economics of “ambitious climate action” have always been problematic.
Britain’s energy secretary has acknowledged the political reality: the government can’t heap costs onto struggling families to meet climate targets.
We long ago coined the term “enviro-zealots” for the fanatics who just don’t get the realities. Lomborg notes they continue to push for “deindustrialization” and consequent “immiseration” to tackle climate change. European citizens are frustrated with the pain of climate change edicts. Farmers in several countries have demonstrated against mandates not only forcing costs and restrictions but forced buyouts of their farms to meet climate goals.
Americans have stated waking up to the restrictions, destructions and costs of green new deal measures, leading to lower standards of living. Our free market system has created a great standard of living. It also fosters innovation and some of our capital and ingenuity can to be allocated to improving our energy generation and lower emissions.
But taking us back to the Stone Age, before fire -- because burning wood or cow chips for heating or eating would create emissions, don’t you know -- is not something modern folks want, or need, to go back to.
To contribute to AFF with a credit card there are two options:
To use any credit card on Square, click first link below:
To use your Paypal acct. click below: