A little while ago I wrote about $4 bacon. Looks like I understated the case. As bad as 2010 is, next year looks worse for the two basic food groups, i.e., (1) bacon and (2) everything lese.

More government-mandated and subsidized corn likker is going into our Suburbans and Lexi.  That makes corn dearer. Right now it's trading at an amazing $6+ a bushel. That means it is harder for pig farmers to make a buck. That means they're not so anxious to raise pigs. That means fewer critters on the market. That means higher-priced pig parts.

No such post would be complete without a reminder that the Washington payday loan office operated by Bernanke and Geithner plays a leading role in this stunning remake of that movie classic, "March to Weimar."
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I'd have used a more clinical word

So Pennsylvania Boss Democrat Rendell thinks we're becoming a nation of wusses because a little snow storm moved big-money football to cancel a game. Right on, Ed. That's what I've been saying all along.

Although canceling ball games wasn't really one of the reasons I had in mind.  I was thinking more along the lines of governors who veto self-defense bills because they might irritate  enough scared soccer moms and dads to make a difference at election time.  

A rasher of dumb

In case you're wondering why your pig fat laced with microscopic meat slivers costs upwards of four bucks a pound lately, most of the answer is here:

The (U.S. Energy Information) agency said 4.8 billion bushels of this year's 12 billion to 13 billion bushel corn crop will be needed to satisfy ethanol demand.

The word "demand" is a fraudulent use of language unless you think a political bribe  to Monsanto and the Farm Bureau constitutes "demand."

The reporter seems doubly joyful that the 48-cent to one-dollar per gallon subsidies on ethanol and biodiesel  have been renewed. The agrithugs get richer.

The rest of the four-buck bacon price is due to a Bernanke/Geithner /Obama trick with disabling the governor on the currency engine.

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Possibly, just possibly, some one from the depths of Pelosi land will stumble across this and go "Huh?" It's like this, Sunshine. Bacon comes from hogs. Hogs  eat corn.

My most obnoxious personal geekery begins on Boxing Day, the countdown to that glorious date when wearing socks is an option.

At these coordinates we have 20 days until the average daily high begins rising -- from 21 to 22.  This is my personal favorite; my Six has just been told extraction Hueys are on the way.

In  59 days, on Feb. 22, the average daily high reaches the freezing point.

And in just 79 days the daily mean exceeds 32. Three days later, on St. Patrick's Day, we plant our potatoes. On average. :)