I arose early this past Sunday morning praying for the Broncos and watching the London performance. I brewed my usual pot of vanilla flavored coffee. Lately I’ve been enjoying the flavored brands. You may have noticed that coffee prices, along with everything else, have risen with double-digit inflation. Just in the past few days rains in South America, primarily Brazil, have driven the price of raw coffee downward. Good news for coffee drinkers.
The Russians announced over the weekend that they are halting the export of wheat from the Ukraine ports because of drone attacks on their naval vessels in the Black sea. The UN and Turkey had negotiated grain exports to be exported to ease world hungry, especially in African nation.
This blockade will increase food prices in meat, poultry, milk, bread, and many food items that have already risen dramatically in recent months.
It is also disturbing that Kroger, who operates the King Soopers chain, is attempting to purchase Albertson, that in recent times purchased Safeway stores. If you haven’t been in a Safeway store recently, you will find that they have improved dramatically. Both Safeway and King Soopers have done an admirable and heroic job of keeping the food chains flowing during COVID-19. The employees have done masterful tasks of keeping the shelves stocked with some exceptions’ pasta and toilet paper being the most memorable commodity shortages.
The competition between the two outlets seems to be beneficial to grocery shoppers. These stores have to compete with Costco, Walmart, and Whole Foods that offer attractive prices, larger quantities, and a vast assortment of gourmet items, prepared foods, and many sale items.
A merger of the two chains might lead to more efficiencies but is not good for consumers to see Safeway just fade away.
It will be interesting to see if voters approve the sale of wine in grocery stores on next week’s ballot. I’m opposed to that option because of the economic stress put on the local liquor, wine, and beer outlets in our neighborhoods, many close to grocery stores.
The stores are owned by local folks and are not listed on the New York Stock exchange.
The Mid-Term election is at hand and voters will soon decide the fate of our nation for at least two more years. Every election is projected by pundits to be the most important in our lifetime.
If the Broncos can fly to London and win a football game, coming back to life from almost being comatose, there is hope for the future.
Russell Wilson actually carried the ball for some gains, threw some great passes and had two successful quarterback sneaks.
Hope lives eternal, even in elections.