Chinatown restaurant asks for help after being hit with $13,000 gas bill

https://www.yahoo.com/news/los-angeles-chinatown-restaurant-asks-210705534.html

 

Yikes. That's a real shame.

 

Did ALL gas bills in the area go up by an astronomical amount? Like 120%? If so, why? If, on the other hand, the Restaurant's situation is a one-off, then again, why did it happen? There's a lot we don't know here. Maybe the Gas company should explain. Has anyone asked them?

 

Re-read the article:

"Last month, SoCal Gas reportedly warned its consumers that “January bills are likely to be shockingly high” due to “an unprecedented cold snap across the nation.”

Gas companies have been blaming the surge in prices on a volatile wholesale market as consumers across the state see a substantial increase in monthly gas bills."

Well, alrighty, then! That explains it -- everybody's in the same boat, right? And I'm sure the Gas Company thinks that's just peachy - higher profits for them. Gotta love that cold snap. There's maybe a 100-year+ known supply - have they somehow managed to engineer volatility? "Make-a-crisis?" Unfortunately, maybe it's bye-bye Hop Woo BBQ...

Here's the chart of industrial gas prices in California -- yeah, you can see the spike. But not how, or why it happened...
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n3035ca3m.htm

 

Everything is doubling and tripling in price but not peoples pensions and salaries.
So many MANY people are upset with he fact that the survival got much more challenging, its like their practical income was cut in 50% or more.
Gas, Eggs,other essentials just name it.
Many services are taking twice longer.
Yet everything is relative, in comparison to nations that are in a much worse situations.

 

That doesn't justify anything. Especially not greed or profiteering.

 

Goggle says,

"They attribute the historic prices to a combination of things: widespread below-average temperatures, high consumption, reduced natural gas flows, and pipeline constraints. Rising natural gas prices, which are passed through at-cost directly to utility customers, are running about five times higher than last January. Jan 30, 2023"

Egg prices are spiking really high because chickens are dying from bird flu.

"-Egg prices jumped 49% in the past year, more than any other grocery category, according to the consumer price index.
-Bird flu is the primary culprit, economists said. Millions of egg-laying hens died in 2022 as a result of the deadliest outbreak of avian flu in U.S. history.
-Perhaps counterintuitively, chicken prices have been declining. Chickens raised for meat consumption aren’t as affected by bird flu, economists said."
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/29/why-egg-prices-have-been-rising.html

 

Egg prices have jumped 60% in the past year in Canada. Here, I get a completely different story. That makes it hard to believe either report. So I won't.

https://nowtoronto.com/trending/cracking-whats-behind-rising-egg-prices-in-canada/#:~:text=In 2021, the average cost,cent month-over-month.

I used to like eggs. Haven't eaten a single whole one in about 8 years. Cholesterol - which is much better now (and will stay that way). I CAN eat that egg-white stuff that scrambles well - they colour it yellow and put it in a in a waxed carton. I don't eat that very often. Bet the price of that stuff would scare me, about now! ... I'll look anyway. I'm getting hungry. It used to be $3 - I'm betting it's hit $5 now.

 

I have seen grocery chains here make themselves a "windfall" by marking up stuff 50% that's been on the shelf ages. Merchandise which they have paid for, at the old price. Items they've discontinued and no new stock is coming in! I have also seen stores that customarily sell three brands of a similar item at different prices - e.g. spaghetti sauce; they suddenly re-price all three at the highest price - so there's no longer a cheaper alternative. I've seen them put bogus "sale" stickers on those few items they still sell at the customary price, when the other similar ones are raised - e.g. one kind of soy or oat milk from a supplier that sells several flavors.

I will never believe one word they say about prices. Years ago, I was told the high price of apples was due to "transportation surcharges." I think there was an OPEC-engineered fuel crisis at the time. But the lowest prices were on New Zealand apples - from halfway around the world. The highest - you guessed it - NINE MILES from orchard to store! Nowadays they wave their arms and say "Inflation! Inflation!" Who do they think is causing inflation?

We used to go to our banks for houses and cars. Now we go for food...

"Hard Times in the Land of Plenty" - Omar and the Howlers (Omar Dykes)

 

Lyrics here:

Some people have, some people have not;
Some got a little, and some got a lot.
Poor people cryin' 'cause they ain't got a dime,
They're left standin' in a welfare line...

Hard times in the land of plenty;
Some got it all and the rest... ...Ain't got any.

The taxman says you gotta pay mo' money;
Ah when you're already broke, you know that just ain't funny.
You gotta rob Peter - pay back Paul;
Used ta stand up straight, but now you got to crawl.

Hard times in the land of plenty... (etc.)

-INTERLUDE and SOLO-

Nobody knows you when your money's gone;
Your future looks dark when your credit's blown.
You got to hustle to stay alive;
You got to be on top if you wanna survive.

Hard times in the land of plenty;
Some got it all, and the rest...
Hard times in the land of plenty;
Some got it all, and the rest... (extended "D")
...Ain't got any.

 

I'll never believe them about pricing either. From what I've seen, the current price of eggs is completely decoupled from how many birds are or are not dying from avian flu. I.E. very few deaths, if any, very high prices. In the UK, the stores are charging 0.50-1.00 more per (half) dozen eggs and not passing any of that to the farmers, in spite of blaming "avian flu" for the price increases. Meanwhile, the farmers have to deal with rising feed prices, etc., but aren't getting paid any more for the eggs than before. I have zero reason to believe that similar things aren't afoot in the US and Canada as well.

As far as I can tell, most price increases these days are because "FU, that's why." Not just eggs, but everything.

 

Exactly!

 

I used to love eggs. I became so sensitive to sulfites that I can't eat them anymore. It is hard to go out for breakfast when you can't eat eggs. They're a cheap delicious source of protein. For a couple years I could eat the Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich with egg white and no yolk. Then I became so sensitive to sulfites that I couldn't eat them either. Heck I have to even eat vegan mayonnaise now.

 

Be careful who you tell, Bill. Or that'll be the NEXT thing to get priced sky-high!

 

Depends on where you are! I've been eating a lot of inexpensive (but delicious) vegan food lately. It's often cheaper than the non-vegan options.

 

Great! It happens, but you have to know where to look! I'm guessing you DO know. The usual cost-warning signs to me are "organic," "artisanal" or even "GMO free." There's a company here in Canada that makes terrific cereal. Holy Crap Foods. I think the name came from the price - it's $10 a smallish box.

Honest - it's at: holycrap-dot-com Great stuff - but priced accordingly.