KEY WEST LOU / SOAP BOX DAY

Still relevant today!!!

My apologies up front. I am on a soap box today. Two issues. Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision and the cost of food.

We need a new Supreme Court! Plain and simple. The Court has gone so far to the right that it appears to be a tool of the 1 per cent. In a 5-4 decision yesterday, the Court rendered a decision that basically allows more personal private money to political candidates. The millionaires and billionaires can donate effectively with no limits.

Government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.

Breyer in his dissent said the decision creates “…huge loopholes in the law…that undermine, perhaps devastate” a free and unbridled election system.

At issue was the right of the super rich to donate as much to a political campaign as desired. The majority said it was the rich guy’s right, that the rich should not in effect be limited in their giving because they are rich.

I am concerned. You should be also. I include my Republican friends. Never forget that he who pays the fiddler, calls the tune.

Food. I have become close to the issue in recent days. My back kept me down for almost a week. Ergo, no grocery shopping. The refrigerator, freezer and cupboard are bare. Easy to fix. Go to the supermarket!

The situation has brought to the forefront an issue I have addressed many times in this blog, on my TV show, on the radio, and in my newspaper column, the past few years. The ever increasing cost of food!

It has been reported that the cost of food went up a staggering 19 per cent last year. Wow! Lets examine the cost of meat as an example. The food  industry claims two reasons.

The first is the cost of whatever cows eat to make them plump and fat. Foodstuffs like corn and soy beans. The cost of items such has these has risen.

The second is the growing middle class world wide. Most of the developing countries now have a middle class. They want all the goodies our middle class enjoy/enjoyed. Especially beef and protein. The demand is up, the supply low. Simple economics. The price of meat must go up.

The preceding may be a contributing factor. I believe there is something else. Four large corporations control 85 per cent of the meat packing business. Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, and National Beef Packing. A monopoly, in effect. They control so they can charge whatever they like. Even if it amounts to gouging the public a bit.

I remained in last night. Wanted to be sure my back was really ok. Today, I plan to be out and about. Besides grocery shopping, a business lunch on the new roof at Schooner Wharf, and bocce this evening. It has been 4 weeks since I last played. I look forward to the evening.

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