Last gasps

Despite the dire predictions of winter storms, we still have not seen a flake yet.  As usual with these storms, the more media time they get, the less actual snow we get.  So, one more repreive.  Unfortunately, the economy seems to be tracking the same way.  The drumbeat of good news trumpeted by most media outlets doesn't seem to be reflected in ordinary people's lives.  Foreclosures are still accelerating, gas prices are rising and layoffs are still happening.  Not to mention the veg markets are still at historic lows when inflation is taken into account.  $5.00 broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce are the FOB price du jour, but those prices are still not making their way into the supermarket.  I bought a head of 16 count cauliflower last night for $2.99.  That seems like a fair price, until you realize the grower probably netted about $.25 for the head, after gambling on seed, fertilizer, rent, packaging materials and labor.  The trucker got another $.25 for transporting the cauliflower across the country.   That means, the chain store operator, in this case Hannaford grossed about $2.50/head for unpacking and displaying the cauliflower.  Now I know the chain has distribution costs, labor, capital tied up in stores, etc., but it strikes me as a little like highway robbery to profit that much while the actual producer of the cauliflower is left to contemplate the inequities of the system.