Farm owner and economist warn COVID shutdowns will raise prices, cause shortages

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Damian Mason, farm owner and agricultural economist, warns that additional closures and regulations against coronaviruses will hurt the industry.
“Food processing facilities are really going to grow because they are already under capacity because they cannot recruit workers,” Mason said in a statement provided to FOX Business on Tuesday.
“The implications of Omicron will limit capacity which is already limited and increase prices due to reduced supply and could even raise concerns (again) about the availability of grocery stores. The worst would be the closure of facilities imposed by the government, because that would increase the shortages. “
He also cautioned against “regulation” which he described as “when rising operating and production costs, imposed by broad government regulation, combine with already rampant inflation in the market”.
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Mason’s comments come amid high inflation and concerns that federal spending could make a bad situation worse. Personal consumption expenditure price index data showed that prices rose 5% during the year through October. This is the fastest rate observed in more than three decades.
The current US national debt is $ 29 trillion and the budget deficit for fiscal 2021 is $ 3 trillion according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

A rack of turkeys waiting to be boned at the Maryland Correctional Institution Meat Plant on November 18, 2019 in Hagerstown, Maryland. (Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
“The same government that told you food inflation was only 5.4% despite evidence to the contrary also told you that the pain you feel at the grocery store checkout is ‘transient’ or temporary “Mason said.

Traffic passes a gas station in downtown Los Angeles where a gallon of gasoline costs over $ 6 on December 10, 2021. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
“This is not the case. Food prices will continue to accelerate and are expected to exceed the headline inflation rate for the reasons I have outlined above, none of which will go away. Welcome to the era. of “regulation,” where rules and politics make food more expensive. “
House Democrats have generally been cautiously optimistic about rising inflation, saying it will eventually be tempered.
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“Inflation is problematic right now, but not out of control as economists across our country have indicated,” said Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., noted during a telephone town hall in October. “Hopefully we’ll be okay in about six months.”
Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., Also said in August that “every economist we’ve spoken to, including President Powell … has basically said very consistently [t]The inflation we are seeing in the economy right now is transient, transient and manageable. ”He quoted Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who said in June that the price increases were temporary.
While the future of inflation remains uncertain, it will likely play a leading role in Republican attacks in the coming months.
The Democrats’ Build Back Better package, which Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., practically killed in the Senate, was to prevent short-term inflation, according to Moody’s Analytics.
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William Foster, vice president and senior credit manager at Moody’s, reportedly said: “The timing is really important – that money won’t start entering the economy until the end of next year and into 2023 and on- of the.”
He added: “We think inflation will subside by the middle of next year. By then the supply chain issues will resolve themselves.”