I just checked- chicken feed is still $13 a 40lb bag at Tractor Supply. Last I got was $24 for organic layer pellets which are now $27. In fact you can tell how little prices have actually gone up by checking out your local farm stand. Have they gone up? Sure- have they tripled? Not at all.

I must have missed the part where eggs were anywhere near this price when we culled about 87% of the birds we have so far during prior outbreaks. Any reason they didn’t escalate nearly to the level?

Well let’s be real here- 25% inflation- 75% profit taking using bird flu and inflation as cover. The bird flu doesn’t increase the cost of production since they are insured against losses.

The chart would also look the same way if you overpaid it with deregulation or tax cuts for that matter. After all in the 1940s the tax rate was 90% and energy cost was 2 cents a kWh. 1960s down to 70% and up to 3. 80s down to 45% up to 4. Now 37% and .17. Making a graph is easy- understanding the actual drivers is harder.

The state provides this helpful guide- https://www.maine.gov/dmr/fisheries/recreational/anglers-guide/south-portland-to-blue-hill

Nope- it is America and our Supreme Court has ruled that states can determine what is public utility- including expanding malls and factories and taking peoples homes- not just recreational and investment properties using eminent domain. Typically of course these are low income houses. This would be using the same rules against the wealthy to have public utility of reduced homelessness.

We do- in the sense that there are a lot of vacant homes. This is of course a byproduct of seasonal residents. Sadly those houses cannot be confiscated and pressed into service so we are stuck with an adequate supply- but a locked up market that does not meet the demand of year round residents

There have been legitimate cases. However the lobster fisherman do not consider it a valid case unless a whale is found with ropes in it that have imprinted on them “this rope belongs to Billy Bob and he meant to kill this whale.” We know there are rope mortalities. We know the population is collapsing. Lobster people opposed the regulations that would reduce rope- because they would be expensive. Private businesses decided they no longer wanted to buy those lobsters then- making the lack of action by the lobster industry way more expensive than reducing the ropes would be. In essence they screwed over themselves.

I think you mean Sweden- which is having a hell of a flu /rsv season as well.

So your solution was to not mask and distance and have a couple hundred thousand more deaths to potentially save approximately 5,000 lives in the future- assuming of course that this years flu would not have resulted in any deaths had we not masked?

Not sure about you - but I generally don’t eat at restaurants that don’t comply with government requirements. Love the health department.

Nobody took them away- I don’t know about you but I was getting food from Restaurants way more during the pandemic to support them. Smart ones adapted and switched to pickup and delivery. Other ones perished- kind of a whole survival of the fittest thing.

The government provided CRAZY amounts of free money to businesses to support them- with a simple application process and completely forgivable loans that could in essence be used for anything- yes I blame someone who couldn’t figure out how to adapt even despite the considerable help from the government that individual people and workers did not receive. Btw, not sure quoting Reagan is a great look- the senile old coot couldn’t even remember selling arms to Iran and Iraq to funnel money to death squads in SlCentral and South America.

Nobody loves it- but blaming Mills for your friends failed business without acknowledging that your friend sucks at business- is a bit ridiculous. Look we all wish he was a better business person- he wasn’t. He sucked at it and his workers and business paid the price- happens all the time- just ask Trump Airlines, Trump University, or Trump Steaks- not everyone is cut out to run a business. A profitable restaurant typically runs at a food cost of about a third with a profit margin of 3-5%. If your friend wasn’t doing that, it goes a long way to explain why his business struggled.

$12k in fresh food and vegetables means that your friend was planning on $36k a week- in essence meaning of your friend was running it close to the bone he lost all of a month and a half worth of profit- once again something a PPP loan would have easily covered. Sounds like your friend failed to plan- that isn’t on Mills. Let me guess, your friend a fail-son that inherited some money isn’t he?

Your friend apply for a ppp loan? That’s the kind of unforeseen emergency that should have gone to. Kind of insane your friend bought that much food coming out of a pandemic- sounds like they didn’t have much of a head for business and no amount of government assistance was going to save them from themselves.