الجمعة، 21 فبراير 2014

Americans Spend More On Junk Food, Less On Groceries Overall

By Cornelius Nunev


Individuals have it good, in a sense, in that we spend less than many other first-world countries on food, which is fairly significant. Granted, agricultural subsidies do have a good bit to do with it. However, we have also been investing more on junk food than almost any type of food item.

Food spending compared to other countries

The average American household is said to have an income of $50,000 per year. That is not exactly the lap of luxury for the typical two-parent, two-child plus assorted pets home. However, the good news is that, as a country, we spend less on food than other developed nations.

Compared with other countries, the United States is not looking too bad since the typical British family spends 9 percent of the annual outlay on food and the typical French family will spend 14 percent. Mother Jones points out that Americans only spent six percent of the $32,051 annual outlay for 2009. That adds up to $6,372 total on food for the year: $3,753 for food in the home and $2,619 for food from the home.

An NPR article points out the reason behind this. It said that during the last 30 years, American food costs have been dropping.

Michelle's thoughts

Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates yearly household expenditures on food have ticked up to around 8 percent of yearly outlays. However, that is drastically less than the typical household in 1982, when food spending was closer to 13 percent.

During that time, only one fruit and vegetable increased in price, and this contains grapefruit with a 6.5 percent increase and bell peppers with a 34 percent increase. No meats have gone up in price. In fact, the cost of steak has dropped 30 percent from 1982 going from $7 a pound to $4.90 a pound on average. All around, food costs have dropped a ton.

What some may view as troublesome is how much is used on what type of food. Meats declined from 31.3 percent of food expenditures in 1982 to 21.5 percent of expenditures in 2012. Vegetables and fruit stayed broadly the same at 14.5 percent in 1982 and 14.6 percent in 2012. However, processed foods and sweets doubled from 11.6 percent in 1982 to 22.9 percent in 2012. Michelle Obama could be criticized for advocating feeding children more fruits and vegetables, but she can be on to something.

Thanks to subsidies

From 1995 to 2010, the agriculture industry has received $261.9 billion in subsidies. The amount of corn produced produced in America increased from 4 billion bushels to 12 billion bushels in that time. This is part of why we are paying less for groceries, according to Mother Jones.

Grain prices and meat costs have increased a lot recently though. In 2011, the price of grain doubled and the price of meat increased 8 percent.

Having low costs does not help the farmer, according to the Daily Green. About 15.8 percent of the cost of an item sold will go back to the entity that produced it, according to the Department of Agriculture, which is why subsidies are needed.



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