food costs rising fastest in 17 years:
For the U.S. poor, any increase in food costs sets up an either-or equation: Give something up to pay for food.
"I was talking to people who make $9 an hour, talking about how they might save $5 a week," said Kathleen DiChiara, president and CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. "They really felt they couldn't. That was before. Now, they have to."
For some, that means adding an extra cup of water to their soup, watering down their milk, or giving their children soda because it's cheaper than milk, DiChiara said.
this reminded me that on sunday i stopped into the brentwood ralph's to grab some treats for myself bc i wasn't having a great day. as i was leaving, i noticed something weird. there was a big cage by the checkout that was locked with a big padlock and had a bunch of merchandise in it. i assumed it was where the "expensive" stuff was kept, like booze or electronics, but when i got closer i noticed it primarily contained isomil and other brands of baby formulas. have you ever seen this in your local grocery store? it's new to me. are times so tough that baby formula theft is sucha problem that they have to keep it under lock and key at ralph's? a cursory google news search reveals that in fact, it is a nationwide problem. it's easier to steal than electronics supposedly, and fetches good prices on the black market. well, i guess that's a little different than what i was imagining, which was a desperate woman stuffing formula under her shirt so she could feed her baby. but still...
there's just something so fucked up about this.
