Grey Power: "putting money aside" (1)

In less than a year I turn 65. There won't be a big party so don't buy balloons. But the number is significant to me. It's a meaningful line I must cross in my life journey, like the Equator would be to a passenger who crosses it for the first time in an ocean liner. Already I've been thinking about the day it will happen.

Some thoughts were closely personal and came up during separate conversations about medical insurance, the Canada Pension Plan and my (age) 55-plus hockey team. I agreed to change insurance carriers, was prompted to apply for CPP early and wondered if there was a 65-plus team in town so I could be the youngest (and a star) on a team, and not the second oldest. (I know, Shakespeare is right: All is vanity).

Other thoughts were more social or political, and prompted by a recent report by Stats Canada about the greying population. Me. Maybe you. At least a growing number of Canadians.

["Some details reported Nov. 26, London Free Press"]

You may have heard the greying population referred to as the grey tsunami because it's a powerful force, one that may easily swamp some government services (e.g., medical, social) in the future. The report says a few words about the 'swamping' aspect of the greys and they touched a nerve in my (almost 65-year old) Boy Scout nature.

I read:

     By 2036, seniors will account for 23% to 25%

     of the Canadian population, and by 2061, the

     figure will be 24% to 28%, they say.

In my mind, we greys  won't exactly be taking over the streets but empty chairs will be scarcer at local coffees shops between 9 and 11 a.m. most weekdays. However, bigger concerns follow:

     What this means is that as the so-called baby

     boomers age there will be fewer people in line

     after them to pay for their care. 

     "There's a kind of an intergenerational difficulty

     in that," Beaujot said. "As we're preparing for a

     society that will have more health costs, we should

     have been putting money aside for that."

To me, I see red flags in the last statements. Big red flags, but not like the Canadian Maple Leaf. I don't think most Canadians and our current federal government are interested in saving up money for important future needs. We may instead be on the opposite course. 

["Photo at http://www.usada.org"]

Stay tuned. More to follow.

   

Photo by GH

***

Please click here to read new skills at age 64

live small, with a neighbour

I like living in a house, with trees in the front yard.

["Having a workshop is a very good idea"]

And I currently live in one that will very likely be my last earthly address, in Wortley Village, London, Ontario. The house is small, close to the corner of Coffee and Hardware, has a great workshop in the backyard and is surrounded my wonderful neighbours and hundreds of healthy trees.

["My situation may change": April 18, London Free Press]

Recent news has me thinking. Will I one day have to rent out the basement in order to stay where I am? Will one of my philosophies of life, i.e., 'live small and prosper', have to change to 'live small and prosper and with a neighbour or friend renting out the basement in order to cover expenses'?

["Easy money and household debt court disaster"] 

The new normal appears to involve higher unemployment, rising household debt, vast wealth in the hands of the few, a resistance to taxes and paying our collective way, fewer safety nets to help those with decent jobs, rising threats to pensions and bad news around every corner.

Some will ask, "All this from a recent news article?"

Not word for word, but it got me thinking of the following:

Low interest rates have fuelled rising household debt

New home buyers are lured by cheap money

When interest rates go up so will the struggles related to paying mortgages

Sustaining an economy with low interest courts disaster

Low interest doesn't sustain pension funds, it robs them of growth

Pensioners will struggle as well to keep their homes

I should tidy up my basement. I'll need a broom and a lot of cardboard boxes.

Do events related to the housing market seem troubling to you?

Photos by GH

***

Please click here for local unemployment figures

Live Small: “simple fried egg”

This is rich. I can buy a mix master for well over $2,000  - with ‘everything’ - but still not get what I want for breakfast.

Photos special to QMI Agency

The rich hype tells me the shiny machine can “cook and stir at the same time,” but can it do a fried egg on toast with a slice of old cheddar (partially melted) in 5 minutes at eight in the morning?

I say reduce spending and save your money for tough times ahead. And enjoy the simple fried egg.

***

Please click here for more Live Small

London Water Bill: “We will pay more for water” PT 3

My plan about London’s water rate increases is brilliant in so many ways. Small users catch a break because they conserve, medium users are encouraged to become small users, and large users - people and businesses that use the most water and put the biggest demands on infrastructure - pay more for the privilege.

“It will cost more to water my big lawn.”

“It will cost more to wash my car.”

“It will cost more to fill my pool.”

“It will cost more to send my kids swimming.”

“The price of golf will go up.”

“The price of beer will go up.”

True, some users will pay more for some household duties and recreational activities.

In my opinion, some increases are long overdue.

[Photos by G.Harrison]

***

What other activities will cost more? 

Please click here to read London Water Bill: “We will pay more for water” PT 2

London Water Bill: “We will all pay more for water” PT 1

Many Londoners have much to learn about water conservation.

Please click here to read ‘Easy ways to use less water and save money’ by Mark Salerno.

However, many Londoners are already conserving, and pay the minimum fee, but are worried they’ll soon have to pay more to fund high infrastructure repair and maintenance costs.

["Me? Pay more? I'm already unplugged!!"]

They should be worried. Infrastructure costs related to water are - and will be - huge. The ‘water conservers’ should pay more. So should everyone else.

More to follow.

[Photo by G.Harrison]

***

Please click here to read more about conservation of resources

Save Money

$1.00 a day, for starters.

Just to get into the habit, for tough times ahead.

Change.

[Photo by G.Harrison]

***

Please click here to read $$ FAX 7

$$ Fax 8: Prices up

Higher prices next year, for sure.

[August 8, D. Akin, London Free Press]

And... prices are higher right now.

So... for some people, it is already hard to save $1.00 a day, but we still need to do it.

[Photos by G.Harrison]

***

Please click here to read $$ FAX 7

$$ FAX 4

Europe is hanging on by its fiscal fingernails, and, as a result, Pres. Obama is deeply worried about the future of the U.S.

I think it would be wise for many U.S. citizens to prepare for a change in lifestyle. 

Recommendations: Look for a smaller house near a bus route. (Then... reduce spending, pay down personal debt and save money for tougher times). 

Photo by G.Harrison

***

Please click here to read $$ FAX 3

Weather Havoc: “No problem. We’ll just eat more beef”

For decades there has always been plenty of relatively low-priced food in my house. If I couldn’t make a sandwich I’d heat up a pizza. Easy kap-easy.

Many North Americans will demonstrate that same attitude upon reading the following (July 28,London Free Press):

["Extreme heat? Pass me the ketchup."]

“The fish are dying off? We’ll just eat more cheeseburgers.”

Drought related to extremes in weather (or climate change, climate instability, global warming, etc.) won’t let us off that easy kap-easy.

[Photo by G.Harrison]

***

Please click here for more Climate Change Concerns

Oil Prices: The decades of cheap prices are over

"Don't put all your eggs into one basket!"

In the early 1940s, with the world at war, oil prices likely fluctuated, but I can find no record of price per barrel (ppb). The earliest posted crude prices at Illinois Basin are from March 31, 1946 and ppb was $1.37.

$1.37. You and I can’t get a decent cup of coffee today for that price. But 65 years ago one could buy a barrel of oil and have enough change left over from a two-spot to get a haircut, grab a burger, watch a movie, and take a bus ride home.

According to Illinois Basin, it wasn’t until Dec. 1973 that average monthly oil ppb past the $5 mark. However, to some manufacturers, dependent upon cheap oil prices to turn a decent profit, the overall average in the decade of the ‘70s - in the $6.50 - $6.99 range - must have seemed ungodly.

Things got a lot worse in the 1980s.

“Events in Iran and Iraq led to another round of crude oil price increases in 1979 and 1980.  The Iranian revolution resulted in the loss of 2 to 2.5 million barrels of oil (mbpd) per day between November of 1978 and June of 1979.  In 1980 Iraq's crude oil production fell 2.7 mbpd and Iran's production by 600,000 barrels per day during the Iran/Iraq War.  The combination of these two events resulted in crude oil prices more than doubling from $14 in 1978 to $35 per barrel in 1981.” (HISTORY OF ILLINOIS BASIN POSTED CRUDE OIL PRICES)

Thank goodness oil prices settled down later in the 1980s, thereby bringing the 1980s average ppb down around $21 - $22.

Though various factors have affected the price of oil from the 1980s to today, the trend has, for the most part, been upward.

E.g., 1990s - $15.70 ave. ppb. (a relatively cheap decade)

2000s - $46.00 ave. ppb. (2008 saw unusually high prices, with 5 months posting averages above $100 pb)

The current decade is on course to beat all records of the past. The 2010 average ppb was $71.21, up 35% from 2000s average. And the 2011 average ppb (for the first 9 months) was $87.48, up 47% from 2000s average.

Today you can buy a barrel of oil for $106.10, and though our wages have increased substantially since the $1.37 ppb in the 1940s, only the rich can afford the increases to the cost of living we are seeing today and will see in the future as oil prices continue to rise.

Though all nations should have been promoting conservation of resources and preparing plans to transition away from an oil-based lifestyle in the 1970s, most promoted larger lifestyles instead. Even today, Canada’s Prime Minister chief goal is to keep the oil-based fires burning under our economy by selling as much tarsands oil as possible to Asia and other countries.

With the decades of cheap oil prices over, and with prices now doubling and tripling before our eyes, conservation efforts related to fuel must double and triple as well. Public education related to the need for smaller houses and cars, reduced spending, paying down debt and saving for tougher times ahead must come ahead of selling more oil at all costs.

To those who think, at $106 per barrel, Canada will make a fortune, I say, some will make a fortune, but most will not.

Most will wonder what tomorrow will bring other than higher oil prices and a lower standard of living.

[Cartoon by G. Harrison]

***

Please click here for more about oil prices.

.

2,012 Challenges in Modern Times PT1

It may just be a coincidence, but I have created a list of 2,012 challenges we face in modern times, and here it is, the year 2012.

The list - a fat tome, really - is based on opinion, speculation, suspicion, the odd fact or detail, and indigestion, or the feeling I get as soon as I hear a certain type of writer, politician or prognosticator clear his/her throat.


["The tome just keeps getting fatter": photo GH]

Let me give you an example from one of the middle pages.

Challenge in modern times #412: Hasty editorializing

In Monte Sonneberg’s recent ‘point of view’ (‘Pension reform requires sacrifice from everyone’, Feb. 7, London Free Press) a few good points about pensions are shared.

He writes, for example, “Given that companies are stockpiling the proceeds of recent corporate tax reductions, perhaps pension reform could coincide with an increase in the corporate tax rate.”

If that’s how he'd started his article I’d have initially thought Monte was sticking up whole-heartedly for the little guy or at least trying to get corporate Canada to take carry a fair load.

But nope. The article starts with the following:

“Canadians have to come to terms with the idea of a higher retirement age.”

WTHeck? Really? Is ‘a higher retirement age’ for the majority of Canadians the key plank in pension reform? Did I miss the referendum, straw vote, memo or nation-wide telephone poll?

Phffft! I don’t think so. Monte is just taking a quick stab at telling us what to believe, but he misses the mark with me.

Admittedly, there are people who want to work past the age of 65 and retire when they’re more ready to hang up the old apron, or sell the old metal lunch bucket at a yard sale, so to speak. They have various reasons for doing so; e.g., they like their job, they want to be active as long as possible and make their own decisions about work and retirement, they have kids in college, they’re saving for a trip to Disneyland, they have a big mortgage, etc. But that doesn’t mean Canadians, or even the majority of Canadians, have to accept or ‘come to terms with the idea of a higher retirement age.’

Monte later tries to get more people on board re Freedom 67 by concluding that “a lot has to change before Canadians will accept (phasing in 67)”, e.g, the aforementioned change or increase to the corporate tax rate, MP pensions, etc. But before doing so he greases the rails under his hasty editorializing, which highlights, in my opinion, another challenge in modern times.

Challenge in modern times #413: Greasing the rails under hasty editorializing

Stay tuned...

***

Please click here to read “Smoke and fire up your pants”

.

This Old Economist: The Age of Austerity is here to stay

[Canada’s economy created 21,700 net new jobs in December, up from the 17,500 previously reported, according to revised data released by Statistics Canada on Friday... but the employment rate was a notch higher at 7.5%. Jan. 28, London Free Press]

No matter how many ways Canadian jobs stats are sliced and diced, our Conservative Federal Government has no sustainable plan to bring good jobs back to our country.

Thanks to its short-sighted, unsustainable, “business as usual” free market economic plan that includes tax breaks for the wealthiest among us (aka “the job creators”) and reliance upon toxic tar sands to prop up its petro dollar, good jobs will not grow in good numbers. Average income for the common man will continue to erode, fuel prices will rise, and the age of austerity in which we live will earn capital letters.

Expect no public education from the Conservatives about how individuals and families should prepare for an austere future. They will dress up employment stats in fine clothes but never tell us how to best manage the inevitable smaller lifestyle we are marching steadily toward.

No longer can the average person expect simply to work hard and enjoy a future that grows more prosperous year by year as parents and grand-parents did, thanks to an ever-growing economy (out-dated now) that rode on the back of cheap oil and gas. Freedom 55... forget about it. Freedom 75 is now the norm, but only if you save 15 - 20 per cent of your monthly income “as if your house is on fire.” The Canadian Dream is dust.

Predictions -

the trend toward smaller incomes, homes and cars will grow

people will soon see the value of turning empty shipping containers into houses on small lots


[Link to photo]

within 5 years the unemployment rate will be rise partly because more Canadians will be paying down or being swamped by their excessive household debt (it now stands at its highest level in Canadian history)

within 10 years ‘The Age of Austerity’ will be the name of a reality TV show

the 1 per cent will get richer

What else will our government neglect to tell us?

***

Please click here to read more from This Old Economist.

.

Get ready for smaller lifestyles by 2020

A minority of people in North America has already adopted a smaller lifestyle (e.g., live in a small house, drive a smaller car or predominantly ride a bike or walk, purchase fewer clothes, shop for groceries with shorter list in hand, etc.), and has done so out of necessity or because of the many benefits,

Below is a small news clip that affects the vast majority of people and lifestyle, whether it be considered normal or excessive.


[News clip from Nov. 5, London Free Press]

The “forecast price for a barrel of oil by 2035” is $212 (according to the International Energy Agency). Methinks, the 'new normal', as far as lifestyle is concerned, will likely come into play far earlier than 2035.

For example, by 2020, when average debt per Canadian family will be at $160 or higher per $100 of income (it’s at $150 at present), many people will be considering far more than dropping TV cable, cancelling their newspaper subscription, doing without a family pet or ordering Chinese every Friday night. Many will be considering selling their big house in the burbs for something smaller that’s close to work or a good grocery store. Quite a few will definitely get rid of their second car.

Many North Americans will be caught by surprise because governments, corporations and media do such a good job at propping up the illusion (now fading in the eyes of growing numbers of people who have little hope of finding a decent job in their lifetime) that progress will continue unimpeded for as long as they hold the reins of modern society.


[“With higher fuel prices, get used to pushing.”]

Read the last line of the news clipping, i.e., the report’s forecast for 2015 is up about 10% from the same report just last year.

Hmmm, what’s happened in the last year? And have things improved since then? How does 2016 look?

Let’s hang in there for another 4 - 5 years, then we’ll all know. And while we’re waiting, let’s shift our lifestyles down a notch or two.

***

Please click here for more high-priced concerns about the future.

.

It Strikes Me Funny: The exciting conclusion of 'A sale on lasagna and the ultimate chef challenge'

[The following column was first published in The Londoner in May, 2003. I dusted it off because it relates well with a recently posted story, i.e., Live Small and Prosper PT 3: It’s time for Frontier Stew]

A sale on lasagna and the ultimate chef challenge

[Oh. Please click here to read the exciting first half of the story. You know, for context.]

... A cashier said she had stopped making her own lasagna because she couldn’t match the price for 5 pounds of the PC brand. I pressed ahead.

With noodles, mozzarella, pasta sauce, tomatoes, cottage cheese, beef, peppers and mushrooms. I figured I had about 8 pounds of ingredients. Total cost $17.08. It was going to be close.

On an icy morning in early April I assembled the ingredients, sliced and diced, grated cheese and cooked noodles. By 11 a.m. the delicious aroma of fried onions, peppers and spice filled the house and by noon all was ready to spoon into two casserole dishes.


["I also make Frontier Stew. So good it will draw tears": photo GH]

An Italian sausage, onions, garlic and a few spices brought my costs to approximately $18.50 so I needed 9 pounds of very tasty lasagna to win household glory.

“How are you going to weigh it?” Pat asked innocently.

I stopped stirring the sauce and replied, “I hadn’t thought of that.”

After a short pause I suggested confidently, “We’ll go by total volume. I’ll measure the sides of each pan and multiply by how deep it is.”

I arranged fat layers of noodles, cheeses and sauce in the greased pans, and quietly celebrated as the ingredients approached the rim of each dish.

After careful measurements and calculations I estimated I had 24 cubic inches more lasagna than two pans of store-bought - for $1.50 less.

After 35 minutes at 350 degrees the steaming lasagna was served.

“It’s delicious,” Pat stated. “Perhaps I’ll take some to mother’s tonight.”

One vote of confidence was reward enough.

***

‘One vote of confidence’ and a big serving of household glory! Fantastic.

Then there’s the savings. Incredible.

Rising food costs are not to be feared. Buck up. We can cook our way to cheaper grocery bills and good health.

Please click here to read more about rising food costs.

.

Live Small and Prosper PT 2: It’s time for Frontier Stew

[Economists say the cost of food in Canada could jump by 8% in the coming months and stay that way for the next year. Breads, grains and cereals will rise the most, with the global costs of wheat, corn and soy increasing. Analysts say the cost of meat also will rise, because livestock consume the same grains.” - Food Prices Forecast To Rise, Mar. 21, London Free Press]

To stay alive, maybe McDonalds will make the Big Mac just a bit smaller.

Maybe Canadians will eat a meatless meal once per week. Maybe twice.


Maybe some will switch from Double Chocolate Oreos to McVitie’s Digestives. They are ‘The Original’ after all.

Maybe PM Harper will increase corporate taxes by 1 or 2 per cent and we’ll all live happily ever after.

What do you think? Any of those ideas stand a chance?

Here’s what I think. In order to survive, save a few dollars here and there, all Dads and Moms and kids over 14 need to learn how to make Frontier Stew. And I don’t mean heating up a tin from the corner Valu-Mart. I mean the real Frontier Stew. The stuff that early Canadians ate from a pail. The stuff that made this country strong.

Yes, we’ve had some downturns and recessions, many Thing$ are going North $$, The Leafs won’t make the playoffs, and we may have to throw a handful of oatmeal into our next batch of BBQ burgers - to stretch the ground chuck, you know what I’m saying - but deep in our genes lies the ability to make stew so fine it makes tinned stuff taste like the crap that it is.

(Admittedly, Puritan Irish Stew, with its preformed chunks of meat, passes muster while camping).

And not only can we make fine stew, we have the opportunity to save money in the process.


["Homemade saves money. Frontier Stew is in there!": photos GH]

Warning: A digression ahead.

Years ago, while shopping, I saw a pan of frozen lasagna on sale for $9.99, and for a brief moment I was tempted to buy it. Then I recalled what a pan of frozen lasagna tasted like at the last staff supper I attended. It was crappy stuff, especially compared to homemade. It lay there in the tinfoil pan like a wet pair of socks.

So, believe it or not, I stepped back and challenged the makers of Equity frozen lasagna to a duel.

“I bet I can whoop your skinny little butt,” I said (inside my little round head, of course) to the CEO of Equity Co.

I tore up my grocery list, turned my cart away from millions of dollars worth of prepared and frozen food and tracked down all the ingredients for fine lasagna.

Though my bill came to more than $9.99, I left the store certain in the belief I would whoop serious butt when I got home.

Stay tuned.

***

Please click here to read Frontier Stew PT 1.

.

Thing$ Going North $$: Beer prices

Aaaggghhh!

[Headline: Beer Price to Rise?

Brewers may get a reprieve this year from tight supplies of malting barley in Canada, but higher costs will likely force them to raise the price of beer next year.

Flooding lowered the quality of the latest barely crops in Canada and Australia, leaving some unsuitable to turn into malt. Mar. 8, London Free Press]


["The glass should always be half full": photo GH]

This hurts.

I’ve been keeping a list: Thing$ Going North $$.

I’ve been checking it (more than twice; I think the official list is up to an even dozen, all important items).

And today is a sad day. Not only do I have to add one more item but the item happens to be a heavy favourite of mine - beer.

When will the misery end?

How will it end? With an empty mug? I can’t think.

***

Please click here for more about Thing$ Going North $$.

.

It Strikes Me Funny PT 4: Is ‘restaurant trouble’ big trouble?

I asked three very important questions the day before yesterday. I now have the answers, thanks to my dependable and completely trust-worthy research department.

One. “Will the rising global population affect the price of food on our plate... ?”

The answer is YES. Most definitely.

However, there are three things that presently buffer Canadians somewhat from rising commodity prices, food costs and much-higher menu prices.

(According to economists, the three factors that currently buffer Canadians are as follows:

The high Canadian dollar

the high proportion of food costs unrelated to crop prices such as marketing and transportation

intense retail competition)

Two. “Is there a magic pill we can take to make the bad news go away?”

No. Many thing$ are going North ($$ co$t-wi$e $$), right along with global population, and will continue to do so. Menu prices at the Malibu Restaurant will eventually rise and cause weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Three. “Can we return to the 1940s when a burger and fries cost 10 cents?”

Dream on.


["Shop on. Eat out. Pay tomorrow - just like the 1940s"]

Rather than dreaming on, however, we should make an effort to discover ways (though they be transient, like the aforementioned buffers, i.e., the high Canadian dollar, retail competition, etc.) to deal with the inevitable higher restaurant tabs.

For example, if eating out is dear to your heart and you believe that the Canadian pace of eating out should be maintained (i.e., at 17.7 million restaurant visits per year), perhaps you could try the following:

Prioritize your monthly expenses in order of importance to your lifestyle, reduce spending in less-important areas, take the money saved and go grab a burger.

For example, maybe TV Cable isn’t really high on your list anymore now that Charlie Sheen’s TV career is in the toilet.

Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars (depending on the cable package) will buy a nice evening out on the town or a pretty darn big bag o’ burgers every Friday, right?

(I think I’m onto something here).

How much money are you spending on your cell phone, phone bill, iPad, gas, oil, tires and hubcaps for the car, Levis, Nike sneakers, new sweaters, books, street meat outside Canadian Tire, cartons or bags of cigarettes, cookies, ice cream, soda pop, cat food and vet services for the year, curtains, couches, shag carpet, big screen TVs and Ottomans for the rec room, or on a myriad of other stuff too lengthy to mention?

Admittedly, with rising prices everywhere, something will have to give, but many Canadians have hundreds of things on their lifestyle priority list and can easily shed a few. I bet some people don’t even know what they spend their money on. It just flows through their hands in a habitual consumerism-style frenzy each week. Heck, if it wasn’t for the flashing neon lights above restaurants and diners, some people would even forget to eat between shopping trips.

So, I don’t think the restaurant industry should worry too much about raising their prices a bit.

Do you?

And the headline that sparked four related posts, i.e., “Trouble on menu,” shouldn’t cause panic for the average Canadian for now.

Right?

Shop on. Eat out. Pay tomorrow.

***

How was that for a suitable ending?

Sure, I could have said ‘reduce spending, pay down debt, save money for tough times ahead,’ but “Shop on. Eat out. Pay tomorrow” has such a lovely ring to it.

Please click here to read It Strikes Me Funny PT 3: Is ‘restaurant trouble’ big trouble?

.

It Strikes Me Funny PT 3: Is ‘restaurant trouble’ big trouble?

[Please read PT 2 for context. I’ll wait.]

“...London (England) became the world’s largest city during the coal-powered industrial revolution, a tipping point for the steep rise of Earth’s population. Wealthy countries use many times more resources per capita than poorer nations, but as global incomes rise, increased consumption may stress the planet more than population growth.”

“In 1975 only three cities worldwide topped ten million. Today 21 such megacities exist, most in developing countries, where urban areas absorb much of the globe’s rising population.” (National Geographic, Jan. 2011)

The Earth’s population reached 1 billion in the early 1800s.

It reached 2 billion about 130 years later in 1930.


["Burgers cost almost nothing in the 1940s"]

It reached 3 billion 30 years later in 1960. I was 11 years old and cannot remember any big party at the time.

It reached 4 billion 14 years later in 1974. I didn't notice. I was too busy teaching young students how great the Great Lakes are. Bob Dylan released the album Planet Waves. Maybe he knew something I didn’t.

It reached 5 billion 13 years later in 1987. Bob Dylan didn’t put out an album that year. I was bummed out.


It reached 6 billion 12 years later in 1999. Bob Dylan didn’t release an album that year as well. I was bummed out again.

It will reach 7 billion 12 years later in 2011. I think Dylan has something in the works this time ‘round to mark the occasion.

According to National Geographic, it may reach 8 billion 13 years from now in 2024, then taper off a bit before hitting 9 billion 20 years later in 2045.


["Want my recipe for Frontier Stew?": photo GH]

And the magazine states: “In the coming decades, despite falling birthrates, the population will continue to grow - mostly in poor countries. If the billions of people who want to boost themselves out of poverty follow the path blazed by those in wealthy countries, they too will step hard on the planet’s resources.” (pg. 40)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch in London, Ontario, Canada, where many people spend a smaller portion of disposable income on food than anywhere else on the planet, there is a growing concern about rising food prices (Corn is getting more expensive to grow! WTHeck!!) and that restaurant menus will change to reflect higher costs. Even the price of a big bag of burgers might go up a touch.

Several people are also nervous about the prospect of having to fry their own eggs and sausages in order to save money.

Will the rising global population affect the price of food on our plate as well?

Is there a magic pill we can take to make the bad news go away?

Can we return to the 1940s when a burger and fries cost 10 cents? (That may have include a chocolate malt).

I’ll look into it!

***

Please click here to read It Strikes Me Funny PT 2: Is ‘restaurant trouble’ big trouble?

.

It Strikes Me Funny PT 1: Is ‘restaurant trouble’ big trouble?

Headline - ‘Trouble On Menu’

“Rising fuel prices are hitting restaurants hard, a double whammy in an industry where many already struggle to survive.

“Couple that with Ontario’s rising minimum wage and an extra 7% tax on food in the form of HST in B.C., and many in the industry are facing “death by a thousand cuts,” said the head of a national association representing restaurants.” (Kelly Pedro, Mar. 11, London Free Press)

Here’s how I’m feeling.

If I can’t eat out several times per week, then my life - my lovely, normal, delightful, easy, convenient set of routines - will be over. OVER!


["Thing$ are changing so fast. What's going on?"]

If I have to pay more for an over-sized supper (nicely large enough for me to get tomorrow’s lunch or dinner out of it), then I’ll be hopping mad. HOPPING!

If I can’t pull up to a drive-thru window and pick up a neatly folded bag of hot, fast, cheap, sweet-and-salty-smelling and fatty-tasting grilled fresh supper (like, tonight’s burger night) - while I wait about 30 seconds - then I’ll likely put my fist through a wall. A WALL!

I mean, what are the alternatives around here?

More frustration to follow.

***

What’s this world coming to?

Please click here for more information about Thing$ Going North $$.

.

Bits and Pieces: So, if I owned a pellet gun...

I’d be half way to a pot of Brunswick or Squirrel Stew.

I’ve never tasted squirrel (I hear it tastes like rabbit. I enjoyed rabbit many times as a kid.) but, because several squirrels have formed a commando group and continually raid my bird feeders, I’m motivated to try.


[“Squirrel meat on sale in England. Yummy?”: photo link]

Because of the trend toward higher energy prices (related to oil, gas and coal costs), perhaps we should expand our tastes to include local squirrel meat.


[“Tasty Squirrel Pie”: photo link]

Would you try it?


[“Is it leaner than bison? It looks good.”: photo link]

What if beef prices double? Would you be more interested to try it once?

***

Rising oil costs have us over a barrel.

How far away are higher food costs and a taste of Squirrel Pie?

.