I have heard that the price rise on milk has to do with the Atkins diet. So many people are eating meat, that they are killing the milk cows for the meat. that cuts the supply of milk, raising prices. Any other theories?

I am not saying that dairy cows don't come under the knife, they do (when they no longer produce milk). But let me assure you, a dairy cow is a VERY expensive animal, much more valuable on an individual basis than beef because a dairy cow 1) produces more cows; 2) produces milk. And don't forget, dairy cows don't have the meat on them that beef cattle do AND it isn't high quality meat. A dairy farmer takes VERY GOOD care of producing cows AT LEAST as well as he takes care of his children (hehe). So I don't think this is a viable theory. I am not saying that on an isolated basis it might not happen, but unlikely.

I worked on a dairy farm -- can you tell?

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"What does a former president's son know about the Iraq war anyway?"
-- GW Bush when asked about Ron Reagan's negative comments, 6/25/2004.
www.BushZombie.com

I can tell you from my experience in Wisconsin (I dated a girl whose aunt and uncle had a dairy farm) that one of their rising expenses was higher property taxes. Property taxes are going up, health care costs are sky-rocketing, and by-and-large, people need to make up their losses in the market over the past few years. Solution: raise prices.

I say amen. As far as I'm concerned, the farmers need a lot more money flowing their way. Although, I do miss milk only costing $1.70 a gallon in Wisconsin.

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Any man who can render himself unconscious with a pretzel isn't smart enough to lead the free world.

Don't forget the increased costs of fuel. It now costs more to transport all goods around the country.

From the archives at the Chicago Tribune newspaper:

In recent months, a shortage of dairy cows and tight supplies of the Monsanto growth hormone that makes cows produce more milk has created a shortage of milk and milk products. That has put enormous pressure on everyone from ice cream producers to makers of croissants and muffins.

I shall not pay for the full text, but they go into some more detail.

I think the ice cream companies are getting a double whammy with a poor vanilla bean crop in addition to the milk shortage.

Firstly. The price of everything EXCEPT OIL is going up.

I suspect the price of oil only APPEARS to be going up because of inflation.

Legal tender was one of the stupidest things we ever did.

Now let me explain an economic principle.

Your checkbook revolves around oil. When the price of oil goes up, the price of everything else goes down. Similarly when the price of oil goes DOWN... Well you can draw a conclusion.

That is all.

Edit: As an afterthought, the price of oil HAS gone up a bit, what with companies cutting down on how much they export, but as far as I'm concerned, since the price of everything has tripled, AT LEAST, since 1970 and the price of oil has NOT, gas isn't expensive until it hits $3.00 a gallon, and even then everything else will go down.

I saw on the news a while back that the dairy market is as profitable as the meat market so many dairy farmers are no longer doing milk. Also, every year there is a lot less farms. I see this in my town of about a dozen or more farms.

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since fuel costs have been on the rise. It will take some time for the recent downturns in fuel prices to be reflected in the costs of the things they transport.

Think of any retailer buying a product from a wholesaler. There will often be 2 components of cost on the invoice. The product and the cost of shipping the product to you. Since the combined cost and the needed profits (to cover overhead and provide a return on investment) often makes the sales price a function of simple algebra, you can see how a rise in transportation costs for your retailer will affect the price he or she charges you for a product.

High gas taxes are like a giant "tax" on the global economy. Although the money doesn't go to the government like a traditional tax, I think you see what I mean. Income is spent on more expensive products (oil is required for every product directly or indirectly) thus reducing consumer's discretionary income for stuff like toys, clothing, and electronics.

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