Revolutions have been started over less.

Hog producers are running up prices and lowing their margins because geniuses in DC had the bright idea to turn food and feed stock into energy.

Bobbie Jean Pope, the 81-year-old mother of C. Larry Pope of Newport News, Va., can't afford her bacon.

"I said, 'Mom, I'll get you some bacon.' And she goes, 'I can't afford y'all's meat anymore! Why is y'all's meat so expensive?' And I said, 'Mom, you ought to understand why it's expensive—it's 'cause our costs are so expensive.'"

Mr. Pope is the chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods Inc., the world's largest pork processor and hog producer by volume

...Some "60 to 70% of the cost of raising a hog is tied up in the grains," Mr. Pope explains. "The major ingredient is corn, and the secondary ingredient is soybean meal." Over the last several years, "the cost of corn has gone from a base of $2.40 a bushel to today at $7.40 a bushel, nearly triple what it was just a few years ago." Which means every product that uses corn has risen, too—including everything from "cereal to soft drinks" and more.

What triggered the upswing? In part: ethanol. President George W. Bush "came forward with—what do you call?—the edict that we were going to mandate 36 billion gallons of alternative fuels" by 2022, of which corn-based ethanol is "a substantial part." Companies that blend ethanol into fuel get a $5 billion annual tax credit, and there's a tariff to keep foreign producers out of the U.S. market. Now 40% of the corn crop is "directed to ethanol, which equals the amount that's going into livestock food," Mr. Pope calculates.

The rapidly depreciating dollar is also sparking inflation, although Mr. Pope says that's a "hard" topic for him to discuss, trying to be diplomatic. But he doesn't deny that money is cheap. Investment bankers are throwing cash at the firm—a turnaround from 2008, when money was scarce—even though Mr. Pope doesn't need it right now.

Read the rest. It's only going to get worst.

I found this story via Nathan Wurtzel who notes...

Here's why Obama and the Soros-Podesta Complex are talking about Trump. They don't want you talking about this

Ben Bernanke can keep telling people not to worry about his running the proverbial printing presses overtime but you can't hide the cost of staples from people. They are going to believe their shrinking pay checks (if they still have one) over the garbled words of some guy in DC.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:03 AM | Comments (212)
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Because nobody wants to argue over which states are going to flip in 18 months and I am too tired to do anything other than paint and stuff my mouth with candied bacon this afternoon, your remix of the day:

Those of you ancient enough to have had to sit through safety films may instantly recognize this as the epic Caterpillar video set in the "construction site of the damned", Shake Hands With Danger:

Still holds up rather well (mainly because they used actual stunt-men and very effective special effects) but it is starting to show its age. The National Safety Council and CENTRON were both gone before I was even in a womb. Still, it is fun to watch the old coot halfway through get his comeuppance.

Now, go away.

Posted by: CAC at 10:37 AM | Comments (26)
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I thought, dumbly I guess, that Trump would actually get to go to the dais and speak. Wouldn't that make it more interesting? You know the guy is going to get ripped; wouldn't it be more interesting to let him give the "rebuttal" as they do in a roast?

I'm not even talking about fairness -- I'm talking about entertainment value, which this yearly paean to Obama's aweomeness could surely use.

As Allah notes, the days of daring, edgy attacks on the President ended January 2009. I imagine we'll go back to the Old Ways beginning January 2013.

So you have two antagonists here and you could have a bit of a show but no, of course you set it up so it's Obama goofing on Trump, and then Seth Meyers goofing on Trump, and the liberal audience galing in (somewhat forced, I-agree-with-you-so-I'm-laughing laughter at Trump, and Trump just sitting there.

Trump didn't get to respond until a phone call on Fox & Friends.

Not sure why Trump went under those circumstances. I'm pretty sure that in one of the old Apprentice episodes, back when he used to give business aphorisms between segments, he must have said Business is about being in control and arranging the situation to your advantage.

I have to note yet again: Obama seems overly proud of his success in producing a common form of identification, a bit like a nine-year-old who proudly fills out his name and address on an identification insert card in his first plastic wallet.

Hmm: Obama goofs on patriotism?

Every Joke Obama Tells Seems To Be Double-Edged And Not In A Good Way: Claiming he's going to show his official birth video, Obama shows the birth of Simba (or whoever) in Lion King.

This is funny in the baiting about his alleged African birth. Okay, that's fine.

But then he's also got working there the Messiah/Chosen One/God's Son thing working there. When Simbama is held up and the whole world kneels in respect... hm. I don't think I'd've gone there since that is a central fault of his psychology.

Pretty Obvious Who Their Boyfriend Is: Instapundit writes:

. Trump had to be smirking at the attention, but itÂ’s a pathetic commentary that the allegedly independent White House Press Corps served as a vehicle for an incumbent President to bash his most vocal challenger. I mean, I know that theyÂ’re a bunch of partisan sycophants, but do they have to be so obvious about it?

Here's a good example: When Obama makes one joke at his own expense -- about his poll numbers -- the crowd actually gasps before laughing a little, nervously.

They're actually upset and a little shocked at the mention of that.

You hear that reaction at Comedy Central roasts -- about dark subjects like birth defects and cancer.

So, for the Washington Press Corps, mention of Obama's weak poll numbers has, for them, the same effect as a mention of molestation or cancer.

That's what's taboo and edgy to them: A quick mention of a relevant polling figure.

Posted by: Ace at 08:43 AM | Comments (170)
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I've been terribly busy at work the last week, and haven't had much opportunity to read. I find it hard to read novels or long-form non-fiction when I'm busy like this, so I tend to read short essays in whatever free time I have available. And this being baseball season (thank God!), I can think of no more pleasant way to use my limited reading time than reading Roger Angell's baseball essays.

Angell has been a fixture at The New Yorker for years and years, and is probably the best "baseball writer" ever. He's written hundreds of baseball-themed essays over the years, and they're periodically collected into book form. I've been working my way through Angell's Five Seasons, which came out in the late 1970's and chronicles (among other things) the morphing of professional baseball from a mere sport into a huge mass-entertainment franchise. (One of his best essays ever, "Gone for Good", about Pirates pitcher Steve Blass, is also in this volume.)

I should note that conservative columnist George Will is a splendid baseball writer too, and wrote a real classic some years back titled Men At Work. This book is just about the best "introduction to baseball" there is. If you have a spouse or friend who just doesn't "get" baseball, give them this book.

An early "clubhouse tell-all" is Jim Bouton's Ball Four. It's a funny and unvarnished look at what goes on both on and off the diamond. (It also seems kind of old-fashioned for a "tell all" kind of book; the steroids, sex scandals, strikes, and other shenanigans over the years have rendered this book almost quaint.)

What's everyone else reading?

Posted by: Monty at 04:49 AM | Comments (108)
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The open-thread companion to the book thread. If you've got other things on your mind this morning, or if you're just not that into book-larnin', this is the place to discuss it.

Posted by: Monty at 04:32 AM | Comments (170)
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