Hand To Mouth

We need to plan for the future and take active steps in that planning. Then we must begin executing the plan and manage it. That is the skinny for fundamental investing. Hell, that is the basis for living a fulfilling life! However during this action, I had to go to the store to get some basics. Not video games to stave off the boredom of the constant bad news, not liqueur or beer to temporarily numb the effects of the current market. I had to go and get things like milk, eggs, bread, meat, and vegetables.

About every two weeks I go, get in the car and drive to the local Costco or Sam's Club for these things. And... if I don't want to be gone long, I go to a Meijers because it is closer. It recently dawned on me that every time, I've been wide-eyed when the final total lit on the register. I pick up the few bags and head back. Now normally you take this in stride as each year prices rise, like gas prices which we become accustomed to over time. Soon, the $3.05 per gallon will be cheap compared to the $3.80 we'll start seeing pop up here and there. Till a time when even that is cheap as we begin seeing the start of $4.05 per gallon.

But back to the food. I've started to see a few people carrying grocery sacks by hand as they walk home on our sidewalk-less streets. Which shows you that some people are starting to save the cost of transportation by walking (a novel idea?). Sadly perhaps they've even lost their job and they've even canceled their car insurance. They risk their lives by walking our sidewalk-less streets, crossing crosswalk-less intersections, all because it is too expensive to drive; but that they still must eat! They still must feed themselves and their families.

So as agflation - rising prices of agricultural products, affected by ethanol production and the rising oil prices (transportation of goods), increasing fertilizer costs hits us squarely in the mouth, we should probably look at profiting here while everyone is noticing. By some estimates, it takes ten to fifteen pounds of grain to get a pound of pork. Wheat price increases relate to higher cereal prices. Everything affects everything. So why not play on the side of those who are doing the very same thing; profiting from the ag-sector? Perhaps then we could also take on a little risk and save a Mother or Father from orphaning their children by giving those walking with grocery sacks a ride back home. Maybe the feeling that you've done a good thing will be payment enough for the bit of gasoline you consumed being a human being.