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March 10 to 16
Grocery Inflation Moderating
Industry experts at a Food Industry Association meeting March 10 predicted that grocery inflation will move up again in 2025 even as many food prices remain stable. The culprits in the upward push will likely be eggs, beef, sugar and sweets, they say.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that about 80% of the foods and beverages in the consumer price index will experience below-average inflation, but rising prices for certain categories will result in overall food inflation that is about 3.4% above the historical average.
Experts advise shoppers to be nimble and to adjust what they buy in order to hold down individual household grocery costs. Shoppers will have more options for maintaining control over those costs.
The biggest unknowns in these predictions are the impacts of United States tariffs of food prices.
Egg price inflation is one of the most persistent and difficult to offset because of the wide range of products that eggs are used in. A Statistica report for January 2025 shows the year-over-year increase in the price of eggs at 53%.
Purdue University’s program in agricultural economics says the other problem to deal with is people’s perception of food inflation, which remains elevated. Even where food inflation is moderating, it is leaving prices at levels higher than consumers have associated with certain food products.
An area of impact is restaurants, a key source of economic activity in a resort community. The National Restaurant Association says that average menu prices have increased significantly year-over-year. More and more individuals are eating out less and remaining value-meal-focused when they do so. Restaurants have had to turn to competing on value to hold customers.
In January Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11) reintroduced her REDUCE Food Prices Act legislation. The bill would provide tax incentives for the establishment and operation of small food retail businesses in areas with high food retail concentration and low levels of competition. Sherrill cites studies that show that food price inflation declines when new businesses enter a concentrated market dominated by traditional supermarkets.
More Energy Needed
For two decades utilities had flat or declining energy loads. In recent years that changed significantly. Demand for energy is soaring, and supply is lagging behind. Part of the problem often pointed to is the decommissioning of fossil fuel sources of energy generation and the serious lag in filling the void with what is termed green zero-emission energy sources. The attempts to transform the nation’s energy profile have heightened a problem that maybe would have been there anyway in some form. It is difficult to envision ways to create supply at the rate that demand is growing.
What do we want? Like Oliver Twist, Americans want more. We want to bring manufacturing home and increase the number of good-paying jobs. We want to see general economic expansion. We want to support the opportunities seemingly inherent in growth of artificial intelligence and massive data centers. We want it all with increased reliability and greater efficiency. And we would like it without rapidly escalating costs.
A Standard and Poor’s Global Commodity Insights report released March 10 sees a serious gap between energy supply and future needs. Marty Durbin, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, speaks of an “unprecedented increase in electricity demand.” Durbin calls for an “all hands on deck” approach to generation while current policy slows the interconnection of certain sources of power and continues to push away from power sources deemed less desirable.
The about-to-be-generally-released U.S. National Power Demand Study projects a 35% to 50% increase in electricity demand by 2040. The S&P study says that demand is growing much faster than a new supply strategy for power generation can accommodate. That creates an urgent need for faster policy actions on permitting, interconnections and generating strategies.
The report supports the need for renewables and carbon capture, but as the American Clean Power Association says, equal urgency needs to go into new nuclear power generation and fossil fuel generation. Jason Grumet of American Clean Power is calling for an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy that gets us past the feeling that “hydrocarbons and electrons have political affiliations.”
Bird Flu, Trust and the CDC
On March 13 the Kaiser Family Foundation released a poll that showed that most Republicans do not trust the CDC with respect to bird flu. As bird flu continues to spread among animals, with some human cases, the poll suggests that only 21% of individuals have a “great deal of trust” in reports and statements from the CDC. The report does indicate that a majority, not a huge one, of Americans have at least a “fair amount of trust” in the CDC on the topic. That majority is a mere 58%, not even six out of 10.
Republican trust in the agency is exceptionally low, with only 11% saying they have a great deal of trust in what the CDC has to say. In fact, 57% of Republicans report “not much” or “not at all” when asked about their trust level in the CDC with respect to a virus that many health officials see as capable of producing a new pandemic if it spreads to humans.
The partisanship that has built up around national public health agencies places a national response to a new pandemic in a difficult place since it is not clear who commands sufficient trust with the overall populace. While 72% of Democrats said they have at least a fair amount of trust in the CDC, that same response among independents was 61% and Republicans 42%.
Bird flu was the topic in the poll, but the results suggest that the distrust of the agency goes beyond the bird flu virus. The poll also finds that many people are unaware or unsure about current public health recommendations for preventing the spread of bird flu. For some with low levels of trust that may be a result of simply not listening to those recommendations.
So far there are no human cases of bird flu in New Jersey, but a recent announcement from the Department of Health is that avian virus flu has been detected in feral cats. N.J. officials still call the risk of H5 avian flu infection to the human population low, but they are urging people to keep abreast of the latest information.
Week in Review
*History will come alive in a most inviting way at the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum when “The Longest Yarn” – 80 three-dimensional scenes of D-Day and the weeks in France that followed, knitted and crocheted by hundreds of volunteers worldwide, including Cape May County – arrives in April for a four- to five-month stay.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council has recently been hearing from members of the public who want it to resolve contract issues with the Fraternal Order of Police as well as choose a new chief for the department. At the council meeting March 4, the council responded on both issues.
*Mayor Chris Leusner continued a township tradition by delivering his annual State of the Township address to the Middle Township Chamber of Commerce.
*Gov. Phil Murphy is proposing in his new budget to increase the tax on real estate sales over $1 million, aiming to pull an extra $322 million into the state’s coffers.
*Three more Cape May County towns have passed a county-drafted resolution opposing the 17% increase in the electricity supply rate that was approved by the state Board of Public Utilities.
*The Lower Township Council has introduced a 2025 municipal budget that has a reduction in overall spending of nearly $600,000 but requires a 1.5-cent tax rate increase.
*A federal lawsuit filed by two female detectives against the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office claiming discrimination and a hostile work environment has been settled, according to a news report.
*Two unique drinks earned Marmora resident and bartender Marisa Holt the title of “Bar Boss Champion 2024,” $20,000 and her photo on the cover of April’s Food and Beverage magazine.
*An 18-year-old student from Villas attending Louisiana State University was arrested for uploading images of child pornography to the internet using university Wi-Fi.
*Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio, saying that “the season” is almost here and that the city is “strong as ever,” spoke of his town as a “special place” during his annual State of the City address to the City Council on March 11.
*New Jersey is ringing alarm bells because the state is past the months when dealing with the drought is easier.
*The Avalon Borough Council will be considering a policy that tells people how they should behave when dealing in person with borough personnel, after an employee was left in tears due to a recent interaction.
*Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian used the March 13 meeting of the governing body to deliver his annual State of the City address, along with a copy of his proposed budget for 2025, which calls for a 7% increase in the local purpose tax rate and an 8.5% hike in the actual tax levy.
*Five men have been arrested and charged with an unprovoked attack on an off-duty Stone Harbor police officer in Wildwood March 12, authorities said.
*Gary DeMarzo, who was fired as Upper Township’s business administrator in January and then laid off as its personnel officer on March 10, has filed a second legal action against the township.
*Stone Harbor Borough Engineer Marc DeBlasio has brought the Borough Council up to date on two flooding studies, on the areas from 80th Street to 88th Street and from 88th Street to 98th Street.
*Police officers and firefighters have received letters of gratitude commending them for their response to the accidental shooting last summer in Wildwood of a Lithuanian student whose first name, when translated into English, is Hope.
Spout Off of the Week
Middle Township – Hey spouter about your trash in CH. Use the cans! No one but you wants unsightly trash bags outside cans ripping, leaking, blowing around. I even got one with a lid for recycling. Had to pay for trash service quarterly other places I’ve lived. Bravo Middle trash service included with my taxes!
