Controlling Food Costs

John Boehner said-“…Washington needs to do a lot more to end the uncertainty and get our economy moving again. It's clear that we need to cut spending, we need to stop unnecessary regulations, end the threat of tax hikes…. ” The Speaker has his talking point, to end uncertainty. But just whose uncertainty is he concerned with?

ExxonMobil pays nothing in taxes, yet the Speaker insists we end the threat of tax hikes. It doesn’t make sense, but neither does the fact that the oil companies are the ones receiving the pay raise Americans received from the lowered Social Security tax deductions the working class pays. Is he talking about righting this tax hike on the little people for the sake of Big Oil to get the economy going again?

Where is the end of constantly rising prices for oil and food? The Nation magazine states-“Now, with oil prices again on the rise, the price of food is likely to surpass all previous records and spark additional upheavals around the world. What we are seeing, in effect, is a vicious cycle in which rising oil prices drive up the cost of food, which triggers political disorder in the oil-producing countries, which in turn pushes oil to still higher prices, propelling food costs even higher, and so forth---with no end in sight.” And here in the U.S., food prices have risen thirty percent just since January.

And talk about spending, where is the certainty of cutting huge government subsides to Big Oil and Agri Business? According to Republicans “farm cuts’ are off the table. Whatever happened with the president’s pledge during his State of the Union Speech to cut subsidies to Big Oil? We haven’t heard a word about it, while they proclaim unbelievable profits. But we’ve heard plenty on spending cuts for the old and the sick, and those of the “Greatest Generation” living on fixed incomes. We’re just not hearing about the kind of spending cuts which could make a real difference, just the ones that harm the unprotected.

The double speak on all sides is blatant, while we’re left with the certainty that oil and food prices will continue to rise with no one wanting to stop them. All we really hear are the actors repeating their lines in a well rehearsed play. And it is a play, it’s called the history of the world; oppression rules while the actors tell the masses what they want them to hear, and what they should think.