Canaries and other critters

Despite the coal industry's long slide into irrelevance, certain sayings or phrases will remain in the lexicon.  Likening some incident to a "canary in a coal" mine is becoming increasingly cryptic to younger generations, but most of us still remember that before safety regulations required the measurement of lethal gases in mines, the miners would bring small birds in cages with them to the bottom of the shaft.  The reasoning was the birds, being more sensitive to the gases would faint or die, thus warning the miners of the possibility of a lethal dose of methane or other noxious gas.  In the economy today, transportation and food pricing serve the same purpose as the canary.  These sectors usually succumb to factors which threaten the nation's economic well being.  Having talked to many people in the vegetable business, it would seem that our canary is swooning as we approach a new year.  Many have said they have not seen such poor business in decades.  Maybe the model of the fresh produce industry is changing, but it would certainly seem people are not eating their veggies in the volume they normally do.  FOB prices as shipping points have been stagnant and the Thanksgiving holiday has not improved them.  Christmas and New Year pulls of holiday staples will start in the next 10 days.  If there is no improvement and transportation costs remain low, I think it will be time to start worrying about the state of the economy.  Based on the shenanigans of the president elects transition team, a little panic might be in order.