When All Else Fails, See Egg Prices

Never take your eye off the egg prices.

Photo by Will Porada on Unsplash

As the world economy teeters on a 2008-style meltdown thanks to the unexplainable caprice of an honest-to-God lunatic/dictator-wannabe, the best economists in the world find themselves obsessed with things like crashing stock markets, bond sell-offs, and inflation. How naive they all are, though, because there is now really only one indicator of how well Trump is doing: the price of eggs. We all must keep our eyes on the price of the egg.

The price of wholesale eggs fell again last week to $3.00 a dozen, the US Department of Agriculture reported in their weekly egg market report. That’s a 9% decline from the week before.

“The supply situation at grocery outlets has greatly improved in recent weeks and consumers are once again seeing fully stocked shelves and enjoying a range of choices without purchase restrictions,” the report detailed (Egg Prices Are Falling).

This is good news, and it’s getting better. Think about it for a moment. Tariffs in most countries have been delayed for 90 days but have been raised to such a level on Chinese goods that the overall tariff on a basket of goods for working-class Americans increased comparatively before the delay was announced. The U.S. imports more from China (105 percent tariff). Mexico and Canada are second and third, respectively, and a 25 percent tariff remains.

So while you sit at the kitchen table and contemplate how you are going to make ends meet in your home because there are no replacements for the things from China and Mexico that have now become too expensive, you can at least enjoy a more-fairly priced two eggs over easy with some Wonder bread toast with margerine. That’s not so bad, right? Granted, the cup of coffee is now more expensive, but a can of Mountain Dew or Coke will get you the needed caffeine boost. Promises made, promises kept, you know?

As small business owners contemplate whether or not they can replace the inputs for their businesses with imports from countries less tariffed than China, many appreciate that the 90-day delay means little or nothing to them. The purpose of the delay was to permit Trump-aligned short sellers to earn billions in profits when the stock market rocketed upward at the announcement of Trump’s retreat. The massive tariffs, however, on China devastate many U.S. small companies because, as one woman whose company sells pet supplies said yesterday on CNN, “A container that cost $30,000 now costs me $65,000. $35,000 I pay in tariff. I usually ship five containers a month. Even if I pass the cost onto consumers, I don’t have $175,000 to cover tariffs on my next shipments. My business fails when I sell out my existing inventory, and 20 people lose good jobs.”

As hard as it is to hear this, this woman voted for Trump because “he’s so good for businesses.” I digress, though, and I, too, am making the silly mistake smarter and better-paid economists are making. By focusing on business planning, jobs, inputs, and short-term logistical hurdles, I overlook that this woman can pop down to the corner breakfast nook and order a not-so-expensive three-egg omelet. Promises made, promises kept.

It’s Friday, and another week from our worst national nightmares lurches toward an awkward end. $10 trillion was washed away like it had never existed, and despite some gains yesterday, the stock market continues to drop. Along with everything collapsing, now the dollar is weakening to levels not seen since hours after the first plane hit the North Tower at 9:48 a.m. on September 11th, 2001 (don’t forget, Trump was down there helping out — the thing is, he wasn’t but his followers will tell he was).

Trump is keeping a lot of his promises. He directed his justice department yesterday to open up investigations of Americans who investigated him for wrongdoings in the past. He is weaponizing the justice department in ways only Vladimir Putin does. He promised to be the president of retribution and tariffs. We know how well the tariffs have worked out. Soon, we will see what happens to our democracy when federal marshals start coming for us for wearing anti-Trump t-shirts.

It’s Friday, and in hours, Trump’s helicopter will take him to the Andrew’s Air Force base, and he will board the plane for Florida. If he’s lucky, he might still be able to get in a round of golf. Promises made, promises kept.

In the meantime, keep your eye on the ball and the egg prices.