Next, the grocery store prices…
The Latest National Security Threat: Childhood Obesity (Hot Air)
Examiner.com: self-regulation is one of the fronts in the Task Force’s all-out war on childhood obesity, but even there there is plenty of finger wagging, and Michelle Obama’s message to you, the consumer, is caustic. “No one gets off the hook on this one,” she is quoted as saying, “from governments to schools, corporations to non-profits all the way down to families sitting around their dinner table.”
I’m wondering if anyone has noticed what hit me square in the face last night as I went through the aisles of our local grocery store. I wasn’t at the fancy “my sacrifice for the planet and well being of others is shopping here” kind of store. I was at the basic, everyone goes there for low prices & decent stock kind of store. What did I notice? Whoever said we were deflating was crazy – because prices were up ~10% on most of our family staples, which happen to be the healthy stuff that Madam First Lady would like us all to eat. Happy Holidays – let them eat kale!
We were warned this was on the way – WSJ on Nov4th, 2010
From “Poverty in America”
“The reality is that people who don’t have enough money (or the utilities and storage) to buy and prepare decent food in decent quantities, cannot (and should not) be [asked] to worry about the finer nuances of nutrition.”…
…it’s not that poor mothers don’t know salads are healthier, but rather that they’re fully consumed with the responsibility of providing three meals a day, every day, that taste decent and will provide enough calories for their family to survive.
What’s next from the First Lady? A grocery store visit to complain about prices – a la Putin?
RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has burnished his populist credentials by storming into a Moscow supermarket and ordering staff to cut the price of sausages.
In keeping with a new strategy of deflecting blame for the country’s economic woes onto the standard-bearers of Russian capitalism, Mr Putin condemned supermarket executives for their greed as shoppers looked on.
Finding Ponies... 
The WH is closer than we realize when it comes to the food price stunt. Unlike Putin, who I think knows the relationship between policy and prices to consumers but wants to HIDE it, I can’t say I’m convinced this WH ‘gets the connection’….I really am beginning to believe they are unable to connect the dots instead of being unwilling to
It probably depends on the Bay Area moms. The ones that get interviewed are the ones who have jobs and put their kids in daycare, or stay at home with the kids in the nice areas. The moms who are struggling between a couple jobs and fighting to pay the elevated rents are likely swinging by Pizza Hut on the way home.
My wife pointed out to me how much grocery prices were going up just this weekend (I’m generally only allowed to shop for food under supervision), and I’m noticing it in areas other than groceries. I bet there’s data that points to increased transportation costs, as well as general company costs (Healthcare?) that are forcing increases.
So the Obamas have already gone Putin-style on bankers and such. On the food end, they are hard-selling the line that the poor can’t help that they are fat. Which means it must be someone else’s fault.
All they lack is to tie these two tactics together the way Putin did, and say something like “you evil grocery store CEOs need to cut your prices!”
Wonder what would happen if they said that?
Over at “sitting on the edge of the sandbox and biting my tongue” site, that blogger says the Bay Area moms love Michelle’s food battle. They buy it entirely. So weird.
Don’t worry, L, you’re not spam!