Impact of High Costs

I'll bypass the links and just comment on a series of recent articles, all discussing the impact of higher food costs.

• Pizza parlors are having trouble. Flour and cheese costs are up, as is fuel for delivery. And what's worse, they have few means to fight back, compared to...
• Fast food places, which are going to "value" menus, like McD's "dollar" menu.
• Sit down restaurants are fighting back by exploring ways to serve less food, but make it look bigger. Presentation, presentation... They can't have food costs of more than 30 percent and still make a profit.
• School lunch programs are cutting corners wherever they can, including being less tolerant of nutritious but less popular choices.

And of course, as I seem to remember in the 70's, we now have truckers striking, because they're severely hurt by higher fuel costs.