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Capitalism is in the Deepest Sense-Crisis Since its Invention
by Georgi Stankov Posted on June 7, 2015
by Georgi Stankov, June 7, 2015
www.stankovuniversallaw.com
Deutsche Wirtschafts
Nachrichten (German Economic News, daily newspaper) is the flagship of the powerful German industrial lobby and currently the most competent German outlet by far and large. It has become the MSM opposition to Merkel and her failed federal government. In a certain way, this newspaper embodies the “voice of rational thinking” (die Stimme der Vernunft) in the desert landscape of the German media, where the greatest lies, distortions and teutonic irrationality celebrate their Walpurgis Night.
In a pivotal article today, this newspaper has sung the final “Requiem (Mass for the dead) of Capitalism” in the most convincing way, to which only I could have been able to, if I cherished any desire to involve one more time in this crumbling, waning 3D holographic illusion. As you all well know, I do not have the faintest desire to spend any intellectual energy in explaining why the Orion/Reptilian order of the criminal western cabal is in a state of total disintegration in these last days. I have done this numerous times in the past. We are now all involved in building our paradise – the New Lemuria in 5D1.
Besides, the truth has advanced so far in these last days prior to our ascension, due to our successful efforts to raise the light quotient on this uppermost mother planet, that we can now leave this tedious work of unpleasant revelations to the MSM. They were supposed to do precisely this and not to be bribed by a few moguls and Reptilian cabal to a much larger extent than FIFA has ever been bribed in order to disseminate lies, war-mongering propaganda and hatred against every nation and everybody who opposes the despicable order of their masters with the aim of installing the NWO. This is all passe now. The MSM have become long time ago the “Internet trolls of society” – the despicable scum of society – and their dire destiny is sealed.
It is a pity that I can only publish this historic article in German language and can only hope that somebody will translate it in English soon.
Read also my prognosis:
The 1999-Forecast of the Collapse of the World Economic Order in the End Times
_______________________________
Der Kapitalismus steckt in der tiefsten Sinn-Krise seit seiner Erfindung
Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, Joachim Jahnke | Veröffentlicht: 07.06.15 01:34 Uhr
Die Diskussion um das Bargeld ist eine Ersatz-Debatte: Tatsächlich steckt der Kapitalismus in seiner tiefsten Krise, weil die Arbeiter schlecht bezahlt werden, die Einkommen ungerecht verteilt und die Menschen im Westen zu alt geworden sind. Mit der Geld-Politik ist die Sinn-Krise nicht zu lösen.
Themen: Banken, Bargeld, Bundesbank, Deutschland, Geldpolitik, Larry Summers, USA, Verbot,Zentralbanken
Es ist schon eine komische Diskussion, die da plötzlich auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks ausbricht. Einige, vor allem linksgestrickte, Wirtschaftswissenschaftler wollen das Bargeld abschaffen. Dazu dienen Vorwände, wie ohne Bargeld ließe sich Schwarzarbeit und Drogenhandel besser bekämpfen. Doch der eigentliche Grund wird durchaus eingeräumt: Seit die Notenbanken den Zins und die Erträge sicherer Staatsanleihen gegen null und real schon unter null gesenkt haben, greift ihre Geldpolitik nicht mehr (Abb. 16317, 18757). Auch haben sie die Märkte in immer mehr Liquidität ertränkt: Ihre Bilanzaktiva stiegen von 13 % der Weltwirtschaftsleistung in 2000 auf 34 % oder fast das Dreifache (Abb. 18781). Trotzdem will sich in den entwickelten Volkswirtschaften kein richtiges Wachstum wie in den 80er-Jahren und der ersten Hälfte der 90er mehr einstellen. Die durchschnittliche jährliche Wachstumsrate brach von 6,9 % auf nur noch 1,9 % ein, in Deutschland sogar von 4,9 % auf ganze 0,9 % (Abb. 18782). Wirtschaftswissenschaftler, wie Larry Summers, sprechen bereits von einer „säkularen Stagnation“.
Theoretisch könnten die Notenbanken noch mit immer weiter steigenden Negativzinsen die Menschen vom Bankkonto weg in den konjunkturfördernden Konsum treiben, wäre da nicht das „lachende Bargeld“. Denn statt mit solchen Zinsen bei der Bank oder in Staatsanleihen Geld zu verlieren, würden die Menschen ihre Ersparnisse unter das Kopfkissen oder in ein sicheres Bankschließfach legen. Also müsste man Bargeld abschaffen. Das fordert beispielsweise der Wirtschaftsweise Peter Bofinger in Deutschland und will ein solches Vorhaben sogar von der Bundeskanzlerin beim kommenden G7-Gipfel angesprochen sehen. Eigentlich ist das umso komischer, als gerade in Deutschland das alternative Plastikgeld nicht besonders in Mode ist.
Gemäß dem ehemaligen US-Finanzminister und Harvard-Ökonomen Larry Summers „leidet die Welt unter einem Ersparnisüberhang und drohe deshalb in eine säkulare Stagnation zu fallen“. Auf Jahrzehnte hinaus müssten wir uns demnach auf geringes Wachstum und zunehmende wirtschaftliche und soziale Probleme einstellen. Ursache dafür sei, dass in einigen Ländern wie China oder Deutschland die Menschen zu viel sparten, statt zu konsumieren oder zu investieren. Deshalb exportierten sie ihre Ersparnis ins Ausland und führten damit zu einem Überangebot an Sparkapital, für das es keine ausreichende Nachfrage gäbe. So fordert auch Summers die bargeldfreie Wirtschaft.
Tatsächlich zählen die Deutschen zu den besonderen Sparmeistern und haben ihren Konsum seit dem Jahr 2000 kaum angehoben (Abb. 17882).
Die Diskussion um das Bargeld ist inzwischen so real, dass sich die Bundesbank dazu beruhigend äußern musste. Im Rahmen einer Pressekonferenz erklärte Bundesbankvorstand Carl-Ludwig Thiele: „Die Wahlfreiheit des Verbrauchers wird die Bundesbank nicht einschränken. Das müsste dann schon der Gesetzgeber tun.“
Die Möchtegern-Bargeldvernichter übersehen bewusst die eigentliche schwere Krise des Kapitalismus, denn für den Spartrieb gibt es gute Gründe, die hausgemacht sind, und die auch ohne Bargeld fortbestehen würden. Es sind im Wesentlichen drei Gründe für den gesteigerten Spartrieb.
Erstens sind Arbeit und Arbeitseinkommen über die letzten Jahrzehnte erheblich unsicherer geworden. Befristete Arbeitsverträge, Teilzeitarbeit und gering entlohnte Arbeit haben die traditionellen Arbeitsverhältnisse zu großen Teilen verdrängt. Die Gewerkschaften als Gegenkräfte haben an Bedeutung verloren oder sind, wie in China staatliche Organisationen. Auch in Deutschland hat sich in den vergangenen 20 Jahren der Anteil der Unternehmen, die nach Tarif zahlen, von 60 % auf 35 % fast halbiert. Den Schutz der Gewerkschaften und der von ihnen ausgehandelten Tarifverträge gibt es nur noch für 52 % der westdeutschen und 35 % der ostdeutschen Arbeitnehmer (Abb. 17018).
Nach neuen Angaben der Internationalen Arbeitsorganisation (ILO) hat nur noch ein Viertel der weltweiten Arbeitsnehmer eine dauerhafte Beschäftigung. Drei Viertel seien in zeitweisen oder kurzfristigen Verträgen oder in vertragsloser Beschäftigung, wobei viele dieser Beschäftigten keine Pensionsrechte erwerben würden. Zwischen 2009 und 2013 hätte die unsichere Beschäftigung in der Mehrzahl der Länder überhandgenommen. Damit hätte sich Unsicherheit ausgebreitet. Gleichzeitig hätte sich der Einkommensabstand zwischen beiden Formen der Beschäftigung erhöht.
Diese Entwicklung trifft zwar vor allem die Entwicklungsländer. Doch wird der Druck über die Globalisierung der Warenströme und die steigenden Möglichkeiten, Arbeit in die Länder mit niedrigem Arbeitnehmerschutz auszulagern, weitergegeben. Die ILO weist für Deutschland auf die 7,5 Millionen Menschen hin, die 2014 in so genannten Minijobs bis 450 Euro/Monat beschäftigt waren und die nur teilweise von der Sozialversicherung erfasst werden und völlig von der Arbeitslosenversicherung ausgeschlossen sind. Nach einer neuen Untersuchung der OECD ist auch unter den entwickelten Industrieländern bereits ein Drittel der Arbeitnehmer befristet, teilzeitbeschäftigt oder selbständig. Die atypische und meist prekäre Beschäftigung hat sich mit einem Plus von 15 % seit der globalen Kreditkrise von 2007 in Deutschland stärker ausgebreitet als in den meisten anderen Ländern (Abb. 18820).
Im weltweiten Maßstab wird immer mehr des Einkommens beim obersten 1 % der Bevölkerung monopolisiert. Der Anteil liegt fast wieder auf dem Niveau des Anteils von 20 % vor der Weltwirtschaftskrise der 30er-Jahre des vergangen Jahrhunderts (Abb. 18780). Auch nach den Feststellungen in einer neuen Studie der Industrieländerorganisation OECD ist die Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich so tief geworden wie seit drei Jahrzehnten nicht mehr. Während die reichsten 10 % der Gesellschaft vor 30 Jahren sieben Mal so viel verdienten wie die ärmsten 10 %, sind es inzwischen zehn Mal so viel. Während die reichsten 10 % im OECD-Schnitt die Hälfte des Vermögens besitzen, gehören den unteren 40 % gerade einmal 3 %. Deutschland liegt im Mittelfeld der Ungleichheit und weit hinter den skandinavischen Ländern (Abb. 18817). Seit 1985 hat sich die Ungleichheit enorm ausgebreitet: die untersten 10 % haben – gemessen am OECD-Durchschnitt von 1985 – nur um 14 % zugelegt, die obersten 10 % dagegen um 51 % (Abb. 18818). In Deutschland hat sich die Ungleichheit besonders stark entwickelt (Abb. 18819).
Die OECD hat auch herausgefunden, dass bei wachsender Ungleichheit die unteren 40 % der Gesellschaft nicht etwa mit größeren Anstrengungen mitzuhalten versuchen, sondern weiter zurückfallen, weil sie sich die Investitionen in die Bildung nicht mehr leisten können. So sinke in dieser Schicht die Zahl der Uni-Absolventen und die durchschnittliche Ausbildungszeit verringere sich um ein halbes Jahr. Je größer die Ungleichheit umso mehr fallen beispielsweise die Ergebnisse von Schülern, deren Eltern aus einem niedrigen Bildungshintergrunde kommen (Abb. 18821).
Die im globalen Maßstab wachsende Ungleichheit der Einkommen und Vermögen zwingt die Benachteiligten zu immer größeren Sparanstrengungen.
Zweitens gibt es noch immer einen enormen Überhang an Schulden in der Welt, die zum Sparen zwingen. Nach dem McKinsey-Bericht vom Februar 2015 stieg die globale Verschuldung von Haushalten, Unternehmen, Regierungen und des Finanzsektors zwischen 2007 und 2014 um 57 Billionen US$ oder 17 Prozentpunkte der weltweiten Wirtschaftsleistung auf 199 Billionen US$ oder 286 % der Wirtschaftsleistung und liegt damit noch erheblich über dem Niveau unmittelbar vor Ausbruch der großen globalen Kreditkrise (Abb. 18596).
Drittens altern in den meisten Ländern der Welt (Abb. 18822) und besonders stark in Deutschland die Bevölkerungen. Staatliche Rentenversicherungen kommen immer mehr unter Druck und zwingen zum Ausweichen über gesteigerte Ersparnisse.
Fazit:
Der Kapitalismus, der von dem Versprechen dauerhaften Wachstums lebt, um so die systemimmanenten Verteilungsprobleme am Ende doch noch zu lösen, kommt durch den Sparzwang und die deshalb ausfallende Verbrauchernachfrage immer mehr in eine unlösbare Sinnkrise. Daran würde auch die Abschaffung des Bargelds wenig ändern. Dass dies überhaupt von als seriös geltenden Wissenschaftlern diskutiert wird, zeigt nur die Tiefe dieser Krise.
Mehr zum Thema Bargeld finden Sie hier
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Joachim Jahnke, geboren 1939, promovierte in Rechts- und Staatswissenschaften mit Anschluss-Studium an französischer Verwaltungshochschule (ENA), Mitarbeit im Kabinett Vizepräsident EU-Kommission, Bundeswirtschaftsministerium zuletzt als Ministerialdirigent und Stellvertretender Leiter der Außenwirtschaftsabteilung. Europäisc
he Bank für Wiederaufbau und Entwicklung in London, zuletzt bis Ende 2002 als Mitglied des Vorstands und Stellvertretender Präsident. Seit 2005 Herausgeber des „Infoportals“ mit kritischen Analysen der wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung (globalisierungskritisch). Autor von 10 Büchern zu diesem Thema, davon zuletzt „Euro – Die unmöglich Währung“, „Ich sage nur China ..“ und „Es war einmal eine Soziale Marktwirtschaft“. Seine gesellschaftskritischen Analysen beruhen auf fundierter und langjähriger Insider-Erfahrung.
Sein Buch über das Ende der sozialen Marktwirtschaft (275 Seiten mit 176 grafischen Darstellungen) kann unter der ISBN 9783735715401 überall im Buch- und Versandhandel für 15,50 Euro bestellt werden, bei Amazon hier.
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How a Cash Crash May Happen
by Georgi Stankov Posted on June 7, 2015
Literally, Your ATM Won’t Work…
By Bill Bonner , on June 6, 2015
Editor’s Note: Today, we’re running an urgent warning from Bill. It’s about the violent monetary shock he sees coming.
This may sound strange…
But the catastrophic scenario Bill outlines below is potentially a much bigger threat than even the out-of-control national debt.
Please remember this warning when you go to the ATM to get cash… and there is none.
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.
.
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While we were thinking about what was really going on with today’s strange new money system, a startling thought occurred to us.
Our financial system could take a surprising and catastrophic twist that almost nobody imagines, let alone anticipates.
Do you remember when a lethal tsunami hit the beaches of Southeast Asia, killing thousands of people and causing billions of dollars of damage?
Well, just before the 80-foot wall of water slammed into the coast an odd thing happened: The water disappeared.
The tide went out farther than anyone had ever seen before.
Local fishermen headed for high ground immediately.
They knew what it meant.
But the tourists went out onto the beach looking for shells!
The same thing could happen to the money supply…
There’s Not Enough Physical Money
Here’s how… and why:
It’s almost seems impossible. Hard to imagine. Difficult to understand. But if you look at M2 money supply – which measures coins and notes in circulation as well as bank deposits and money market accounts – America’s money stock amounted to $11.7 trillion as of last month.
But there was just $1.3 trillion of physical currency in circulation – about only half of which is in the US. (Nobody knows for sure.)
What we use as money today is mostly credit. It exists as zeros and ones in electronic bank accounts. We never see it. Touch it. Feel it. Count it out. Or lose it behind seat cushions.
Banks profit – handsomely – by creating this credit. And as long as banks have sufficient capital, they are happy to create as much credit as we are willing to pay for.
After all, it costs the banks almost nothing to create new credit. That’s why we have so much of it.
A monetary system like this has never before existed. And this one has existed only during a time when credit was undergoing an epic expansion.
So our monetary system has never been thoroughly tested. How will it hold up in a deep or prolonged credit contraction? Can it survive an extended bear market in bonds or stocks? What would happen if consumer prices were out of control?
Less Than Zero
Our current money system began in 1971.
It survived consumer price inflation of almost 14% a year in 1980. But Paul Volcker was already on the job, raising interest rates to bring inflation under control.
And it survived the “credit crunch” of 2008-09. Ben Bernanke dropped the price of credit to almost zero, by slashing short-term interest rates and buying trillions of dollars of government bonds.
But the next crisis could be very different…
Short-term interest rates are already close to zero in the U.S. (and less than zero in Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden). And according to a recent study by McKinsey, the world’s total debt (at least as officially recorded) now stands at $200 trillion – up $57 trillion since 2007. That’s 286% of global GDP… and far in excess of what the real economy can support.
At some point, a debt correction is inevitable. Debt expansions are always – always – followed by debt contractions. There is no other way. Debt cannot increase forever.
And when it happens, ZIRP and QE will not be enough to reverse the process, because they are already running at open throttle.
What then?
The value of debt drops sharply and fast.
Creditors look to their borrowers… traders look at their counterparties… bankers look at each other…
…and suddenly, no one wants to part with a penny, for fear he may never see it again.
Credit stops.
It’s not just that no one wants to lend; no one wants to borrow either – except for desperate people with no choice, usually those who have no hope of paying their debts.
Just as we saw after the 2008 crisis, we can expect a quick response from the feds.
The Fed will announce unlimited new borrowing facilities. But it won’t matter….
House prices will be crashing. (Who will lend against the value of a house?) Stock prices will be crashing. (Who will be able to borrow against his stocks?) Art, collectibles, and resources – all we be in free fall.
The NEXT Crisis
In the last crisis, every major bank and investment firm on Wall Street would have gone broke had the feds not intervened. Next time it may not be so easy to save them.
The next crisis is likely to be across ALL asset classes. And with $57 trillion more in global debt than in 2007, it is likely to be much harder to stop.
Are you with us so far?
Because here is where it gets interesting…
In a gold-backed monetary system prices fall. But the money is still there. Money becomes more valuable. It doesn’t disappear. It is more valuable because you can use it to buy more stuff.
Naturally, people hold on to it. Of course, the velocity of money – the frequency at which each unit of currency is used to buy something – falls. And this makes it appear that the supply of money is falling too.
But imagine what happens to credit money. The money doesn’t just stop circulating. It vanishes. As collateral goes bad, credit is destroyed.
A bank that had an “asset” (in the form of a loan to a customer) of $100,000 in June may have zilch by July. A corporation that splurged on share buybacks one week could find those shares cut in half two weeks later. A person with a $100,000 stock market portfolio one day could find his portfolio has no value at all a few days later.
All of this is standard fare for a credit crisis. The new wrinkle – a devastating one – is that people now do what they always do, but they are forced to do it in a radically different way.
They stop spending.
They hoard cash. But what cash do you hoard when most transactions are done on credit? Do you hoard a line of credit? Do you put your credit card in your vault?
No.
People will hoard the kind of cash they understand… something they can put their hands on… something that is gaining value – rapidly. They’ll want dollar bills.
Also, following a well-known pattern, these paper dollars will quickly disappear.
People drain cash machines. They drain credit facilities. They ask for “cash back” when they use their credit cards. They want real money – old-fashioned money that they can put in their pockets and their home safes…
Dollar Panic
Let us stop here and remind readers that we’re talking about a short time frame – days… maybe weeks… a couple of months at most. That’s all. It’s the period after the credit crisis has sucked the cash out of the system… and before the government’s inflation tsunami has hit.
As Ben Bernanke put it, “a determined central bank can always create positive consumer price inflation.” But it takes time!
And during that interval, panic will set in. A dollar panic – with people desperate to put their hands on dollars… to pay for food… for fuel…and for everything else they need.
Credit may still be available. But it will be useless. No one will want it. ATMs and banks will run out of cash. Credit facilities will be drained of real cash. Banks will put up signs, first: “Cash withdrawals limited to $500.” And then: “No Cash Withdrawals.”
You will have a credit card with a $10,000 line of credit. You have $5,000 in your debit account. But all financial institutions are staggering. And in the news you will read that your bank has defaulted and been placed in receivership. What would you rather have? Your $10,000 line of credit or a stack of $50 bills?
You will go to buy gasoline. You will take out your credit card to pay.
“Cash Only,” the sign will say. Because the machinery of the credit economy will be breaking down. The gas station… its suppliers… and its financiers do not want to get stuck with a “credit” from your bankrupt lender!
Whose credit cards are still good? Whose lines of credit are still valuable? Whose bank is ready to fail? Who can pay his mortgage? Who will honor his credit card debt? In a crisis, those questions will be as common as “Who will win an Oscar?” today.
But no one will know the answers. Quickly, they will stop guessing… and turn to cash.
Our advice: Keep some on hand. You may need it.
Regards,
Bill June 05, 2015
Further Reading: Unfortunately, many Americans suffer from what psychologists call “willful blindness.” That’s why Bill has taken the extraordinary step of assembling the full, shocking details in a special report. To get full details on what Bill calls the Great American Credit Collapse, read on here.
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First Comes Eggs Rationing in America and Then the Economic Collapse
by Georgi Stankov Posted on June 8, 2015
by Georgi Stankov, June 7, 2015
www.stankovuniversallaw.com
For somebody like me, who has lived under communism for almost a quarter of a century and has experienced first hand how it is to survive with food rationing for many years, this is a most ominous sign.
America has begun to ration eggs as it is in a deep economic and agricultural crisis on top of being on the verge of an imminent financial collapse.
The blame is given on the Avian flu virus, but this is a hoax as everything that comes from this country. America is unable to feed its own people and it does not have the money to import more goods from abroad, given the fact that its trade deficit has soared up to 700 billion $ per year since more than three decades. The USA is sponging on the rest of the world, as I pointed out in my economic analysis already in 1999.
As the USA has stopped producing anything of value after exporting all its industries to China and other third world countries in the last two decades to exploit the cheap labour there, it was predictable with 100% certainty that there will come a point in time when the USA is bankrupt and cannot even buy eggs from abroad.
And believe me when it “goes so deep down the rabbit’s hole“, then the time of chaos and confusion has commenced (see Urban dictionary on this saying). I have experienced it first hand in Eastern Europe, before and when the Empire of Evil crashed the weak central-planned economies of these countries in the 90s under the pretext of introducing the free market and now “the chickens come home to roost” (The fact that chickens usually come home to rest and sleep has long been known, but the idea was used figuratively only in 1809, when Robert Southey wrote, “Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost” ( The Curse of Kehama)).
What do we learn from this?
First that since April the average price for eggs has more than doubled in America and so have numerous food products based on eggs. But officially there is no inflation in the USA. Shortly before the communist system collapsed in 1989, the central-planned economies in Eastern Europe had reached the peak of statistical fraud, which, unlike in the USA where the sleeping zombies do not get it, was a topic of numerous public jokes, you know the type of jokes where eggs and balls are counted together, just as “apples and pears should not be counted together” (a popular German saying that two completely different sets of things cannot be compared by simply counting them.)
Therefore, not only have we a rampant inflation in the USA and here in Canada on all food products and also on gas, where the prices have reached the previous levels when a barrel of oil was above 100 bucks (now it is half of it), but we also observe a peak in state fraud, hiding how dire the economic situation in North America really is. However, the facts are now so overwhelming that even the mouthpiece of American propaganda, The Washington Post can no longer resort to past blatant lies and must come up with some pieces of truth:
Egg Rationing in America Has Officially Begun
by Roberto A. Ferdman, June 5, 2015
Why your egg prices are going up
In recent days, an ominous sign has appeared throughout Texas. “Eggs [are] not for commercial sale,” read warnings, printed on traditional 8 1/2-by-11-inch pieces of white paper and posted at H-E-B grocery stores across Texas. “The purchase of eggs is limited to 3 cartons of eggs per customer.”
H-E-B, which operates some 350 supermarkets, is one of the largest chains not only in the state, but in the whole country. And it has begun, as the casual but foreboding notices warn, to ration its eggs.
“The United States is facing a temporary disruption in the supply of eggs due to the Avian Flu,” a statement released on Thursday said. “H-E-B is committed to ensuring Texas families and households have access to eggs. The signs placed on our shelves last week are to deter commercial users from buying eggs in bulk.”
The news, as the grocer suggests, comes on the heels of what has been a devastating several months for egg farmers in the United States. Avian flu, which has proven lethal in other parts of the world, has spread throughout the United States like wildfire. Since April, when cases began spreading by the thousands each week, the virus has escalated to a point of national crisis.
As of this month, some 46 million chickens and turkeys have been affected, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nearly 80 percent of those are egg-laying hens, a reality that has been crippling for the egg industry.
But it’s becoming increasingly clear that it isn’t merely those who produce eggs that will suffer. Those who eat them will pay a price, too.
The wholesale price of eggs sold in liquid form (a.k.a. egg beaters, the kind used by large food manufacturers) has skyrocketed — from $0.63 per dozen to more than $1.50 — since the virus began to spread. While that stands to affect the price of breads, pastas, cakes and other commercial confections made with eggs, it also bodes poorly for food service providers, such as McDonald’s, which sell millions of egg-filled meals every morning. Texas-based fast-food chain Whataburger recently announced that it will be shortening its breakfast hours for the foreseeable future.
“We know this is no fun for anyone and hope this doesn’t last long, and we apologize the supply of eggs cannot currently meet demand,” the company wrote on its Facebook page.
In-shell egg prices have risen too. The average price per dozen has just about doubled since the end of May, according to the USDA. Have a look at that red line in chart below.
But incremental price increases are hardly as noticeable as strict limits on purchases, such as those already appearing at one of the country’s largest supermarket chains, which makes the signs at H-E-B stores all the more foreboding. H-E-B has called the disruption “temporary” but hasn’t delineated any time frame for the three-dozen-egg limit.
Given how fruitless efforts have been to contain the flu so far, it’s hard to imagine the system will be flooded with a fresh stream of eggs any time soon. It seems likely, in other words, that other grocers will begin rationing eggs, too, before H-E-B is able to sell patrons as many as they wish to eat.
And with each wrinkle of bad news, the idea of a national egg shortage, which was once uttered as though it were a mere apocalyptic musing, is suddenly looking like a real possibility.
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Capitalism is in the Deepest Sense-Crisis Since its Invention
by Georgi Stankov Posted on June 7, 2015
by Georgi Stankov, June 7, 2015
www.stankovuniversallaw.com
Deutsche Wirtschafts
Nachrichten (German Economic News, daily newspaper) is the flagship of the powerful German industrial lobby and currently the most competent German outlet by far and large. It has become the MSM opposition to Merkel and her failed federal government. In a certain way, this newspaper embodies the “voice of rational thinking” (die Stimme der Vernunft) in the desert landscape of the German media, where the greatest lies, distortions and teutonic irrationality celebrate their Walpurgis Night.
In a pivotal article today, this newspaper has sung the final “Requiem (Mass for the dead) of Capitalism” in the most convincing way, to which only I could have been able to, if I cherished any desire to involve one more time in this crumbling, waning 3D holographic illusion. As you all well know, I do not have the faintest desire to spend any intellectual energy in explaining why the Orion/Reptilian order of the criminal western cabal is in a state of total disintegration in these last days. I have done this numerous times in the past. We are now all involved in building our paradise – the New Lemuria in 5D1.
Besides, the truth has advanced so far in these last days prior to our ascension, due to our successful efforts to raise the light quotient on this uppermost mother planet, that we can now leave this tedious work of unpleasant revelations to the MSM. They were supposed to do precisely this and not to be bribed by a few moguls and Reptilian cabal to a much larger extent than FIFA has ever been bribed in order to disseminate lies, war-mongering propaganda and hatred against every nation and everybody who opposes the despicable order of their masters with the aim of installing the NWO. This is all passe now. The MSM have become long time ago the “Internet trolls of society” – the despicable scum of society – and their dire destiny is sealed.
It is a pity that I can only publish this historic article in German language and can only hope that somebody will translate it in English soon.
Read also my prognosis:
The 1999-Forecast of the Collapse of the World Economic Order in the End Times
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Der Kapitalismus steckt in der tiefsten Sinn-Krise seit seiner Erfindung
Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, Joachim Jahnke | Veröffentlicht: 07.06.15 01:34 Uhr
Die Diskussion um das Bargeld ist eine Ersatz-Debatte: Tatsächlich steckt der Kapitalismus in seiner tiefsten Krise, weil die Arbeiter schlecht bezahlt werden, die Einkommen ungerecht verteilt und die Menschen im Westen zu alt geworden sind. Mit der Geld-Politik ist die Sinn-Krise nicht zu lösen.
Themen: Banken, Bargeld, Bundesbank, Deutschland, Geldpolitik, Larry Summers, USA, Verbot,Zentralbanken
Es ist schon eine komische Diskussion, die da plötzlich auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks ausbricht. Einige, vor allem linksgestrickte, Wirtschaftswissenschaftler wollen das Bargeld abschaffen. Dazu dienen Vorwände, wie ohne Bargeld ließe sich Schwarzarbeit und Drogenhandel besser bekämpfen. Doch der eigentliche Grund wird durchaus eingeräumt: Seit die Notenbanken den Zins und die Erträge sicherer Staatsanleihen gegen null und real schon unter null gesenkt haben, greift ihre Geldpolitik nicht mehr (Abb. 16317, 18757). Auch haben sie die Märkte in immer mehr Liquidität ertränkt: Ihre Bilanzaktiva stiegen von 13 % der Weltwirtschaftsleistung in 2000 auf 34 % oder fast das Dreifache (Abb. 18781). Trotzdem will sich in den entwickelten Volkswirtschaften kein richtiges Wachstum wie in den 80er-Jahren und der ersten Hälfte der 90er mehr einstellen. Die durchschnittliche jährliche Wachstumsrate brach von 6,9 % auf nur noch 1,9 % ein, in Deutschland sogar von 4,9 % auf ganze 0,9 % (Abb. 18782). Wirtschaftswissenschaftler, wie Larry Summers, sprechen bereits von einer „säkularen Stagnation“.
Theoretisch könnten die Notenbanken noch mit immer weiter steigenden Negativzinsen die Menschen vom Bankkonto weg in den konjunkturfördernden Konsum treiben, wäre da nicht das „lachende Bargeld“. Denn statt mit solchen Zinsen bei der Bank oder in Staatsanleihen Geld zu verlieren, würden die Menschen ihre Ersparnisse unter das Kopfkissen oder in ein sicheres Bankschließfach legen. Also müsste man Bargeld abschaffen. Das fordert beispielsweise der Wirtschaftsweise Peter Bofinger in Deutschland und will ein solches Vorhaben sogar von der Bundeskanzlerin beim kommenden G7-Gipfel angesprochen sehen. Eigentlich ist das umso komischer, als gerade in Deutschland das alternative Plastikgeld nicht besonders in Mode ist.
Gemäß dem ehemaligen US-Finanzminister und Harvard-Ökonomen Larry Summers „leidet die Welt unter einem Ersparnisüberhang und drohe deshalb in eine säkulare Stagnation zu fallen“. Auf Jahrzehnte hinaus müssten wir uns demnach auf geringes Wachstum und zunehmende wirtschaftliche und soziale Probleme einstellen. Ursache dafür sei, dass in einigen Ländern wie China oder Deutschland die Menschen zu viel sparten, statt zu konsumieren oder zu investieren. Deshalb exportierten sie ihre Ersparnis ins Ausland und führten damit zu einem Überangebot an Sparkapital, für das es keine ausreichende Nachfrage gäbe. So fordert auch Summers die bargeldfreie Wirtschaft.
Tatsächlich zählen die Deutschen zu den besonderen Sparmeistern und haben ihren Konsum seit dem Jahr 2000 kaum angehoben (Abb. 17882).
Die Diskussion um das Bargeld ist inzwischen so real, dass sich die Bundesbank dazu beruhigend äußern musste. Im Rahmen einer Pressekonferenz erklärte Bundesbankvorstand Carl-Ludwig Thiele: „Die Wahlfreiheit des Verbrauchers wird die Bundesbank nicht einschränken. Das müsste dann schon der Gesetzgeber tun.“
Die Möchtegern-Bargeldvernichter übersehen bewusst die eigentliche schwere Krise des Kapitalismus, denn für den Spartrieb gibt es gute Gründe, die hausgemacht sind, und die auch ohne Bargeld fortbestehen würden. Es sind im Wesentlichen drei Gründe für den gesteigerten Spartrieb.
Erstens sind Arbeit und Arbeitseinkommen über die letzten Jahrzehnte erheblich unsicherer geworden. Befristete Arbeitsverträge, Teilzeitarbeit und gering entlohnte Arbeit haben die traditionellen Arbeitsverhältnisse zu großen Teilen verdrängt. Die Gewerkschaften als Gegenkräfte haben an Bedeutung verloren oder sind, wie in China staatliche Organisationen. Auch in Deutschland hat sich in den vergangenen 20 Jahren der Anteil der Unternehmen, die nach Tarif zahlen, von 60 % auf 35 % fast halbiert. Den Schutz der Gewerkschaften und der von ihnen ausgehandelten Tarifverträge gibt es nur noch für 52 % der westdeutschen und 35 % der ostdeutschen Arbeitnehmer (Abb. 17018).
Nach neuen Angaben der Internationalen Arbeitsorganisation (ILO) hat nur noch ein Viertel der weltweiten Arbeitsnehmer eine dauerhafte Beschäftigung. Drei Viertel seien in zeitweisen oder kurzfristigen Verträgen oder in vertragsloser Beschäftigung, wobei viele dieser Beschäftigten keine Pensionsrechte erwerben würden. Zwischen 2009 und 2013 hätte die unsichere Beschäftigung in der Mehrzahl der Länder überhandgenommen. Damit hätte sich Unsicherheit ausgebreitet. Gleichzeitig hätte sich der Einkommensabstand zwischen beiden Formen der Beschäftigung erhöht.
Diese Entwicklung trifft zwar vor allem die Entwicklungsländer. Doch wird der Druck über die Globalisierung der Warenströme und die steigenden Möglichkeiten, Arbeit in die Länder mit niedrigem Arbeitnehmerschutz auszulagern, weitergegeben. Die ILO weist für Deutschland auf die 7,5 Millionen Menschen hin, die 2014 in so genannten Minijobs bis 450 Euro/Monat beschäftigt waren und die nur teilweise von der Sozialversicherung erfasst werden und völlig von der Arbeitslosenversicherung ausgeschlossen sind. Nach einer neuen Untersuchung der OECD ist auch unter den entwickelten Industrieländern bereits ein Drittel der Arbeitnehmer befristet, teilzeitbeschäftigt oder selbständig. Die atypische und meist prekäre Beschäftigung hat sich mit einem Plus von 15 % seit der globalen Kreditkrise von 2007 in Deutschland stärker ausgebreitet als in den meisten anderen Ländern (Abb. 18820).
Im weltweiten Maßstab wird immer mehr des Einkommens beim obersten 1 % der Bevölkerung monopolisiert. Der Anteil liegt fast wieder auf dem Niveau des Anteils von 20 % vor der Weltwirtschaftskrise der 30er-Jahre des vergangen Jahrhunderts (Abb. 18780). Auch nach den Feststellungen in einer neuen Studie der Industrieländerorganisation OECD ist die Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich so tief geworden wie seit drei Jahrzehnten nicht mehr. Während die reichsten 10 % der Gesellschaft vor 30 Jahren sieben Mal so viel verdienten wie die ärmsten 10 %, sind es inzwischen zehn Mal so viel. Während die reichsten 10 % im OECD-Schnitt die Hälfte des Vermögens besitzen, gehören den unteren 40 % gerade einmal 3 %. Deutschland liegt im Mittelfeld der Ungleichheit und weit hinter den skandinavischen Ländern (Abb. 18817). Seit 1985 hat sich die Ungleichheit enorm ausgebreitet: die untersten 10 % haben – gemessen am OECD-Durchschnitt von 1985 – nur um 14 % zugelegt, die obersten 10 % dagegen um 51 % (Abb. 18818). In Deutschland hat sich die Ungleichheit besonders stark entwickelt (Abb. 18819).
Die OECD hat auch herausgefunden, dass bei wachsender Ungleichheit die unteren 40 % der Gesellschaft nicht etwa mit größeren Anstrengungen mitzuhalten versuchen, sondern weiter zurückfallen, weil sie sich die Investitionen in die Bildung nicht mehr leisten können. So sinke in dieser Schicht die Zahl der Uni-Absolventen und die durchschnittliche Ausbildungszeit verringere sich um ein halbes Jahr. Je größer die Ungleichheit umso mehr fallen beispielsweise die Ergebnisse von Schülern, deren Eltern aus einem niedrigen Bildungshintergrunde kommen (Abb. 18821).
Die im globalen Maßstab wachsende Ungleichheit der Einkommen und Vermögen zwingt die Benachteiligten zu immer größeren Sparanstrengungen.
Zweitens gibt es noch immer einen enormen Überhang an Schulden in der Welt, die zum Sparen zwingen. Nach dem McKinsey-Bericht vom Februar 2015 stieg die globale Verschuldung von Haushalten, Unternehmen, Regierungen und des Finanzsektors zwischen 2007 und 2014 um 57 Billionen US$ oder 17 Prozentpunkte der weltweiten Wirtschaftsleistung auf 199 Billionen US$ oder 286 % der Wirtschaftsleistung und liegt damit noch erheblich über dem Niveau unmittelbar vor Ausbruch der großen globalen Kreditkrise (Abb. 18596).
Drittens altern in den meisten Ländern der Welt (Abb. 18822) und besonders stark in Deutschland die Bevölkerungen. Staatliche Rentenversicherungen kommen immer mehr unter Druck und zwingen zum Ausweichen über gesteigerte Ersparnisse.
Fazit:
Der Kapitalismus, der von dem Versprechen dauerhaften Wachstums lebt, um so die systemimmanenten Verteilungsprobleme am Ende doch noch zu lösen, kommt durch den Sparzwang und die deshalb ausfallende Verbrauchernachfrage immer mehr in eine unlösbare Sinnkrise. Daran würde auch die Abschaffung des Bargelds wenig ändern. Dass dies überhaupt von als seriös geltenden Wissenschaftlern diskutiert wird, zeigt nur die Tiefe dieser Krise.
Mehr zum Thema Bargeld finden Sie hier
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Joachim Jahnke, geboren 1939, promovierte in Rechts- und Staatswissenschaften mit Anschluss-Studium an französischer Verwaltungshochschule (ENA), Mitarbeit im Kabinett Vizepräsident EU-Kommission, Bundeswirtschaftsministerium zuletzt als Ministerialdirigent und Stellvertretender Leiter der Außenwirtschaftsabteilung. Europäisc
he Bank für Wiederaufbau und Entwicklung in London, zuletzt bis Ende 2002 als Mitglied des Vorstands und Stellvertretender Präsident. Seit 2005 Herausgeber des „Infoportals“ mit kritischen Analysen der wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung (globalisierungskritisch). Autor von 10 Büchern zu diesem Thema, davon zuletzt „Euro – Die unmöglich Währung“, „Ich sage nur China ..“ und „Es war einmal eine Soziale Marktwirtschaft“. Seine gesellschaftskritischen Analysen beruhen auf fundierter und langjähriger Insider-Erfahrung.Sein Buch über das Ende der sozialen Marktwirtschaft (275 Seiten mit 176 grafischen Darstellungen) kann unter der ISBN 9783735715401 überall im Buch- und Versandhandel für 15,50 Euro bestellt werden, bei Amazon hier.
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How a Cash Crash May Happen
by Georgi Stankov Posted on June 7, 2015
Literally, Your ATM Won’t Work…
By Bill Bonner , on June 6, 2015
Editor’s Note: Today, we’re running an urgent warning from Bill. It’s about the violent monetary shock he sees coming.
This may sound strange…
But the catastrophic scenario Bill outlines below is potentially a much bigger threat than even the out-of-control national debt.
Please remember this warning when you go to the ATM to get cash… and there is none.
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While we were thinking about what was really going on with today’s strange new money system, a startling thought occurred to us.
Our financial system could take a surprising and catastrophic twist that almost nobody imagines, let alone anticipates.
Do you remember when a lethal tsunami hit the beaches of Southeast Asia, killing thousands of people and causing billions of dollars of damage?
Well, just before the 80-foot wall of water slammed into the coast an odd thing happened: The water disappeared.
The tide went out farther than anyone had ever seen before.
Local fishermen headed for high ground immediately.
They knew what it meant.
But the tourists went out onto the beach looking for shells!
The same thing could happen to the money supply…
There’s Not Enough Physical Money
Here’s how… and why:
It’s almost seems impossible. Hard to imagine. Difficult to understand. But if you look at M2 money supply – which measures coins and notes in circulation as well as bank deposits and money market accounts – America’s money stock amounted to $11.7 trillion as of last month.
But there was just $1.3 trillion of physical currency in circulation – about only half of which is in the US. (Nobody knows for sure.)
What we use as money today is mostly credit. It exists as zeros and ones in electronic bank accounts. We never see it. Touch it. Feel it. Count it out. Or lose it behind seat cushions.
Banks profit – handsomely – by creating this credit. And as long as banks have sufficient capital, they are happy to create as much credit as we are willing to pay for.
After all, it costs the banks almost nothing to create new credit. That’s why we have so much of it.
A monetary system like this has never before existed. And this one has existed only during a time when credit was undergoing an epic expansion.
So our monetary system has never been thoroughly tested. How will it hold up in a deep or prolonged credit contraction? Can it survive an extended bear market in bonds or stocks? What would happen if consumer prices were out of control?
Less Than Zero
Our current money system began in 1971.
It survived consumer price inflation of almost 14% a year in 1980. But Paul Volcker was already on the job, raising interest rates to bring inflation under control.
And it survived the “credit crunch” of 2008-09. Ben Bernanke dropped the price of credit to almost zero, by slashing short-term interest rates and buying trillions of dollars of government bonds.
But the next crisis could be very different…
Short-term interest rates are already close to zero in the U.S. (and less than zero in Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden). And according to a recent study by McKinsey, the world’s total debt (at least as officially recorded) now stands at $200 trillion – up $57 trillion since 2007. That’s 286% of global GDP… and far in excess of what the real economy can support.
At some point, a debt correction is inevitable. Debt expansions are always – always – followed by debt contractions. There is no other way. Debt cannot increase forever.
And when it happens, ZIRP and QE will not be enough to reverse the process, because they are already running at open throttle.
What then?
The value of debt drops sharply and fast.
Creditors look to their borrowers… traders look at their counterparties… bankers look at each other…
…and suddenly, no one wants to part with a penny, for fear he may never see it again.
Credit stops.
It’s not just that no one wants to lend; no one wants to borrow either – except for desperate people with no choice, usually those who have no hope of paying their debts.
Just as we saw after the 2008 crisis, we can expect a quick response from the feds.
The Fed will announce unlimited new borrowing facilities. But it won’t matter….
House prices will be crashing. (Who will lend against the value of a house?) Stock prices will be crashing. (Who will be able to borrow against his stocks?) Art, collectibles, and resources – all we be in free fall.
The NEXT Crisis
In the last crisis, every major bank and investment firm on Wall Street would have gone broke had the feds not intervened. Next time it may not be so easy to save them.
The next crisis is likely to be across ALL asset classes. And with $57 trillion more in global debt than in 2007, it is likely to be much harder to stop.
Are you with us so far?
Because here is where it gets interesting…
In a gold-backed monetary system prices fall. But the money is still there. Money becomes more valuable. It doesn’t disappear. It is more valuable because you can use it to buy more stuff.
Naturally, people hold on to it. Of course, the velocity of money – the frequency at which each unit of currency is used to buy something – falls. And this makes it appear that the supply of money is falling too.
But imagine what happens to credit money. The money doesn’t just stop circulating. It vanishes. As collateral goes bad, credit is destroyed.
A bank that had an “asset” (in the form of a loan to a customer) of $100,000 in June may have zilch by July. A corporation that splurged on share buybacks one week could find those shares cut in half two weeks later. A person with a $100,000 stock market portfolio one day could find his portfolio has no value at all a few days later.
All of this is standard fare for a credit crisis. The new wrinkle – a devastating one – is that people now do what they always do, but they are forced to do it in a radically different way.
They stop spending.
They hoard cash. But what cash do you hoard when most transactions are done on credit? Do you hoard a line of credit? Do you put your credit card in your vault?
No.
People will hoard the kind of cash they understand… something they can put their hands on… something that is gaining value – rapidly. They’ll want dollar bills.
Also, following a well-known pattern, these paper dollars will quickly disappear.
People drain cash machines. They drain credit facilities. They ask for “cash back” when they use their credit cards. They want real money – old-fashioned money that they can put in their pockets and their home safes…
Dollar Panic
Let us stop here and remind readers that we’re talking about a short time frame – days… maybe weeks… a couple of months at most. That’s all. It’s the period after the credit crisis has sucked the cash out of the system… and before the government’s inflation tsunami has hit.
As Ben Bernanke put it, “a determined central bank can always create positive consumer price inflation.” But it takes time!
And during that interval, panic will set in. A dollar panic – with people desperate to put their hands on dollars… to pay for food… for fuel…and for everything else they need.
Credit may still be available. But it will be useless. No one will want it. ATMs and banks will run out of cash. Credit facilities will be drained of real cash. Banks will put up signs, first: “Cash withdrawals limited to $500.” And then: “No Cash Withdrawals.”
You will have a credit card with a $10,000 line of credit. You have $5,000 in your debit account. But all financial institutions are staggering. And in the news you will read that your bank has defaulted and been placed in receivership. What would you rather have? Your $10,000 line of credit or a stack of $50 bills?
You will go to buy gasoline. You will take out your credit card to pay.
“Cash Only,” the sign will say. Because the machinery of the credit economy will be breaking down. The gas station… its suppliers… and its financiers do not want to get stuck with a “credit” from your bankrupt lender!
Whose credit cards are still good? Whose lines of credit are still valuable? Whose bank is ready to fail? Who can pay his mortgage? Who will honor his credit card debt? In a crisis, those questions will be as common as “Who will win an Oscar?” today.
But no one will know the answers. Quickly, they will stop guessing… and turn to cash.
Our advice: Keep some on hand. You may need it.
Regards,
Bill June 05, 2015
Further Reading: Unfortunately, many Americans suffer from what psychologists call “willful blindness.” That’s why Bill has taken the extraordinary step of assembling the full, shocking details in a special report. To get full details on what Bill calls the Great American Credit Collapse, read on here.
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First Comes Eggs Rationing in America and Then the Economic Collapse
by Georgi Stankov Posted on June 8, 2015
by Georgi Stankov, June 7, 2015
www.stankovuniversallaw.com
For somebody like me, who has lived under communism for almost a quarter of a century and has experienced first hand how it is to survive with food rationing for many years, this is a most ominous sign.
America has begun to ration eggs as it is in a deep economic and agricultural crisis on top of being on the verge of an imminent financial collapse.
The blame is given on the Avian flu virus, but this is a hoax as everything that comes from this country. America is unable to feed its own people and it does not have the money to import more goods from abroad, given the fact that its trade deficit has soared up to 700 billion $ per year since more than three decades. The USA is sponging on the rest of the world, as I pointed out in my economic analysis already in 1999.
As the USA has stopped producing anything of value after exporting all its industries to China and other third world countries in the last two decades to exploit the cheap labour there, it was predictable with 100% certainty that there will come a point in time when the USA is bankrupt and cannot even buy eggs from abroad.
And believe me when it “goes so deep down the rabbit’s hole“, then the time of chaos and confusion has commenced (see Urban dictionary on this saying). I have experienced it first hand in Eastern Europe, before and when the Empire of Evil crashed the weak central-planned economies of these countries in the 90s under the pretext of introducing the free market and now “the chickens come home to roost” (The fact that chickens usually come home to rest and sleep has long been known, but the idea was used figuratively only in 1809, when Robert Southey wrote, “Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost” ( The Curse of Kehama)).
What do we learn from this?
First that since April the average price for eggs has more than doubled in America and so have numerous food products based on eggs. But officially there is no inflation in the USA. Shortly before the communist system collapsed in 1989, the central-planned economies in Eastern Europe had reached the peak of statistical fraud, which, unlike in the USA where the sleeping zombies do not get it, was a topic of numerous public jokes, you know the type of jokes where eggs and balls are counted together, just as “apples and pears should not be counted together” (a popular German saying that two completely different sets of things cannot be compared by simply counting them.)
Therefore, not only have we a rampant inflation in the USA and here in Canada on all food products and also on gas, where the prices have reached the previous levels when a barrel of oil was above 100 bucks (now it is half of it), but we also observe a peak in state fraud, hiding how dire the economic situation in North America really is. However, the facts are now so overwhelming that even the mouthpiece of American propaganda, The Washington Post can no longer resort to past blatant lies and must come up with some pieces of truth:
Egg Rationing in America Has Officially Begun
by Roberto A. Ferdman, June 5, 2015
Why your egg prices are going up
In recent days, an ominous sign has appeared throughout Texas. “Eggs [are] not for commercial sale,” read warnings, printed on traditional 8 1/2-by-11-inch pieces of white paper and posted at H-E-B grocery stores across Texas. “The purchase of eggs is limited to 3 cartons of eggs per customer.”
H-E-B, which operates some 350 supermarkets, is one of the largest chains not only in the state, but in the whole country. And it has begun, as the casual but foreboding notices warn, to ration its eggs.
“The United States is facing a temporary disruption in the supply of eggs due to the Avian Flu,” a statement released on Thursday said. “H-E-B is committed to ensuring Texas families and households have access to eggs. The signs placed on our shelves last week are to deter commercial users from buying eggs in bulk.”
The news, as the grocer suggests, comes on the heels of what has been a devastating several months for egg farmers in the United States. Avian flu, which has proven lethal in other parts of the world, has spread throughout the United States like wildfire. Since April, when cases began spreading by the thousands each week, the virus has escalated to a point of national crisis.
As of this month, some 46 million chickens and turkeys have been affected, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nearly 80 percent of those are egg-laying hens, a reality that has been crippling for the egg industry.
But it’s becoming increasingly clear that it isn’t merely those who produce eggs that will suffer. Those who eat them will pay a price, too.
The wholesale price of eggs sold in liquid form (a.k.a. egg beaters, the kind used by large food manufacturers) has skyrocketed — from $0.63 per dozen to more than $1.50 — since the virus began to spread. While that stands to affect the price of breads, pastas, cakes and other commercial confections made with eggs, it also bodes poorly for food service providers, such as McDonald’s, which sell millions of egg-filled meals every morning. Texas-based fast-food chain Whataburger recently announced that it will be shortening its breakfast hours for the foreseeable future.
“We know this is no fun for anyone and hope this doesn’t last long, and we apologize the supply of eggs cannot currently meet demand,” the company wrote on its Facebook page.
In-shell egg prices have risen too. The average price per dozen has just about doubled since the end of May, according to the USDA. Have a look at that red line in chart below.
But incremental price increases are hardly as noticeable as strict limits on purchases, such as those already appearing at one of the country’s largest supermarket chains, which makes the signs at H-E-B stores all the more foreboding. H-E-B has called the disruption “temporary” but hasn’t delineated any time frame for the three-dozen-egg limit.
Given how fruitless efforts have been to contain the flu so far, it’s hard to imagine the system will be flooded with a fresh stream of eggs any time soon. It seems likely, in other words, that other grocers will begin rationing eggs, too, before H-E-B is able to sell patrons as many as they wish to eat.
And with each wrinkle of bad news, the idea of a national egg shortage, which was once uttered as though it were a mere apocalyptic musing, is suddenly looking like a real possibility.
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