Do people really genuinely believe eggs are worth $20-30?

[InsecureLivesMatter]

It's what my stepdad and some lady at Whole Foods thought. But I found a 12-count of eggs for just $2.99. They both got their sources from "the news."

Yeah, eggs are $20-30+ where I live

Nope

Depends on the count

Updates

1 y

To clarify I do mean US dollars. Obviously AU dollars are different

Updates

1 y

To add I live in California which is supposed to be the most expensive of all states so that's where I'm getting my numbers from

[NamerOfStars]

https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/shop/product/rhode-island-red/

$30 will buy you 8 female chicks. And that's just one breed from one hatchery; there are probably cheaper options out there, if you look. Now, those are day-old chicks, and I don't think they start laying until about six months or so (but I may be wrong there; my knowledge of animal husbandry isn't great), and of course you have to feed them (they can scrounge somewhat, but it's winter) and care for them, which costs money, too, but there ARE options.

There is ALSO, however, bird flu. Remember bird flu? That disease that's twice as lethal as smallpox? Yeah, it's ripping through the bird population of the US right now, and while the only way to get it is through contact with an infected bird (it can't spread from person to person), it kills birds VERY easily. Oh, and remember how huge swathes of the population took doses of a mutagenic agent that prompted their bodies to start producing a cell entry mechanism for an extremely contagious disease? And how reverse transcriptase and horizontal gene transfer are NOT, in fact, right-wing conspiracy theories, but very real and observed phenomena? Yeah, the combination of "extreme contagiousness" and "extreme lethality" is a VERY, VERY bad idea. I honestly wouldn't blame companies for restricting birds and bird-related stuff right now.

I don't think they are, though; this is just supply and demand, on top of a heinously disrupted transportation network. Be sure to thank Newsome!

[Astarlessnightsky]

Depends how you determine the worth pf something in the first place.

If you think the life of an animal is worth nothing, and the work of the farmers is work nothing, and the transport is worth nothing, and the salary of the grocery store employes is worth nothing, and environmental problems are worth nothing, you sure can get 10 eggs for under 2 dollars.

However once you start to value each of the aspect you are happily paying more to ensure the animals seeing some natural light and get fed something else besides antibiotics, and the farmers getting more than just the bare minimum to survive, and clean air and water, and so on... put than you can't keep the price under 2 dollars.

[Paul_in_Indy]

Did you, immediately, buy all of the $3/doz eggs? If not, you do not think they are worth $30. Who cares what we think. You have answered the question for yourself.

[Soteris]

Capitalism. Things are worth whatever people are willing to pay for them. Make them desperate enough and yes, eggs would be worth 20 to 30 dollars. Capitalism is not your friend.

[Paul_in_Indy]

…. except when it is. How do you think we got the $0.70/doz eggs before all those hens had to be depopped for influenza? Capitalism did that.

[Soteris]

@Paul_in_Indy That had nothing to do with giving you better prices, it was all about giving themselves more profits. The fact that it gave you lower prices was just ha happy, and more importantly TEMPORARY coincidence that they are more than willing to take away if given half the chance. As demonstrated.

[Paul_in_Indy]

So, if you get a good price but someone else makes money, that’s bad for you? A market in which the factors that give you a better price also gives me (and, by extension, you, if you’d like to invest in the industry) a better profit is exactly the reason that Capitalism is your friend. Trust me, you want those pressures to coincide.

[Paul_in_Indy]

The market will recover. Consumers want eggs. That demand will motivate people to replace those lost layers and ramp up egg production; in search of more profit. Pices will come back down—because of Capitalism.

[Paul_in_Indy]

On the other hand, in a Defined Price / Fiat Pricing economy, where the producer was forced to continue selling far fewer eggs at the same $0.70/dozen, the producers would not be motivated to (could not afford to) replace those hens. They would move to a different product. …and we would just have empty shelves without enough eggs to go around. Would that economy be my friend?

[Soteris]

@Paul_in_Indy If it is such a good price then why are they making a large profit? Ideologically the words "good price" and "profit" is in conflict with each other and capitalism is supposedly all about using the means of competition to tilt this balance back in the favor of "good price" at the expense of "profits". Of course, that is not how capitalism works in practice but it helps demonstrate why I am right.

After all, you claim that "the market will recover" and that the demand will spark more competition that will then lower the prices back down... but both you and I know that it is not necessary. Nothing motivates corporations, even competitors for working harder for a smaller gain which in turn can lead to things such as price fixing or monopolies. The end state of all capitalism because the system itself has no mechanisms to recover from such a state once it falls into it and thus means it becomes an inevitability.

[Paul_in_Indy]

Of course, the best price yields the optimum profit! That’s the basic fact of market economics. An egg producer doesn’t get any of my money unless I purchase their eggs. If I purchase someone else’s, they get nothing from me. I will buy what I perceive to be the best value. As long as I find another option a better value, you are out of luck. That’s how competition works. Suppliers compete fro my money. The winner gets it. That’s how they profit.

When you argue that price fixing and monopolies -which are anti-capitalistic forces— harm the market, you are absolutely right. That’s why we prefer capitalism.

[Soteris]

@Paul_in_Indy No it is not a basic fact. The "Optimum profit" is a monopoly followed by price fixing which is why corporations, which is designed to optimize profit, gravitate towards those two.

And this is the biggest problem with people like you. You think things like that are "anti-capitalistic forces". They are not. They are logical conclusions of the capitalist system. For example, a monopoly is the logical conclusion of market competition, where a corporation has "won" the competition against all its rivals to the point where its no longer profitable or possible to compete against them anymore. This is the maximum levels of competition where the bar is just set way too high. Worst of all, capitalism as an ideology has no ways of resolving this meaning monopolies are essentially permanent unless you employ anti-capitalist measures.

The basic ideology of capitalism is competition, the survival of the fittest. It is all over once the competition dies. This is one of the follies of capitalism.

[Paul_in_Indy]

Monopoly is the opposite of competition. If you are blaming Capitalism for monopoly, then you are upset with Capitalism for not being Capitalistic enough. I can sympathize with that. …but it isn’t Capitalism that is fighting against the free market.

[Paul_in_Indy]

Anyway, I will bow out, now. You will probably find, in the the future, that discussions are more interesting with an exchange of ideas working toward synthesis; rather than a reflexive condemnation of “people like you.” The world is much more interesting once you start to see the other people in it as fellow sojourners, rather than annoyances or opponents. I encourage you to give it a try.

Thanks for chatting with me.

[Soteris]

@Paul_in_Indy Very well, aside from me thinking you are completely wrong. Lets address why this was not an interesting or even an exchange of ideas. First of all, nothing you said was thought provoking to me. I specifically said "people like you" because you are just one among many that say and think the same things I have heard a million times before and disagree with each and every time. You did not say anything new to me nor did you really take anything I said in return seriously.

My words just came in one of your ears and out the other while you went down your bulletpoint list of talking points you never questioned nor tested. From my point of view, this conversation was intellectually dead.

[Iron_Man]

Three dollars is fair enough you don’t need to spend $30 on 12 eggs California’s ripping the people off you don’t need to spend that much money blame Joe Biden he doesn’t know what he’s doing

[InsecureLivesMatter]

I literally went to a store here in California and the eggs are still $2.99, no more than $7.99

[Iron_Man]

Ok good

[FilmGuy93]

I just bought a dozen jumbo eggs this morning, and I paid around $5. I live in PA. I haven't heard of anyone saying that eggs cost $20-30.

[Guy13]

In two years, that is how much they will cost with 8-16% interest rates.

[NostalgiaSenpi]

I haven't heard of them being that high, yet. I saw on the news that some places in California were selling them for about $10 per dozen.

[gorydetails]

Did you get some ghetto eggs? That’s still over triple the normal price

[FictionalCharacter]

In my area eggs cost $6-$7 a dozen.

[jshm2]

Depends on quality and breed.

[Anonymous]

Right-wingers will believe anything.

[InsecureLivesMatter]

What's funny is my stepdad says he doesn't follow anyone in politics and the lady at the store didn't even bring politics up

[legalboxers]

propaganda