In the latest episode of “Things that Presidents Can’t Do a Damned Thing About But Get Blamed Anyway,” we have yet another round of “eggflation” coming – and this one will be a doozey. It is worth the attention, though. I would hazard that egg prices are one-third of the reason that President Donald Trump won the election. The other two-thirds would go to inflation generally, and then there is the cloud of misogyny floating above it all. Regardless, fair or not, the American public holds the president accountable for every aspect of the economy. Thus it is that the Trump administration is in for a bit of trouble. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, so to speak.
The jump in egg prices really has nothing to do with presidential decisions. From reports, we see that the projected 41% increase has everything to do with Avian Flu and nothing to do with much else. As per a report found in Newsnation:
Egg prices are at an all-time high and expected to get even worse for consumers, according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture projection.
The USDA’s latest outlook predicts egg prices will increase 41% in 2025 as a widespread bird flu outbreak continues to devastate egg-laying chicken flocks. Tuesday’s updated forecast is more than double the 20% jump in egg prices the USDA projected for 2025 a month ago.
Some on social media wonder why it is that egg prices go through the roof without an accompanying rise in chicken meat. The best guess – by those on social media – go to the fact that they’re entirely different industries with different practices. For one, egg laying hens live a lot longer than their fryer family. But every honest person can admit that any administration that could control bird flu – or egg prices – would do so. After all, unlike most foods, eggs are pretty well ubiquitous. Not only do most people just eat eggs straight, they are found in so many other products. It is inflation right in people’s faces. So it goes.
The bleak outlook stems from the fact that roughly 18.8 million commercial egg layers were affected by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in January, the highest monthly total since the outbreak began in 2022, the USDA said.
Right. So there’s that. It is likely something of which all Americans should be aware. Inflation is real and some of it will be driven by things like tariffs and the public’s overall attitude as driven by said tariffs and terminations, all impact the psyche. Some of it, however, will be due to market forces wholly outside of anyone’s control. If one reads anything on chaos theory it is downright humbling. Any non-linear three variable system will produce unpredictable results (Chaos) dependent on the smallest changes (Butterfly effect). The economy is inherently outside full control. But economics is also a science and they can get better at moderating the most massive effects. Investment in the bottom up nearly always produces more positive results (though it, too – can drive inflation). We will see. But fairly or unfairly, Democrats took it in the chin for the inflation coming out of COVID and we’ll now see what it does to the Trump administration.
One need not be a political scientist to understand who gets the blame.
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watch egg prices go down for Easter and then double after. is it really avian flu or just corrupting the market conflating with avian flu?
And DOGE “accidentally” fired bird flu staff and are now desperately. trying to.rehire them.
And RFK wants to fire people in the sector that researches and keeps track.of infectious diseases.At the rate they’re going, I may not have to worry about their cutting Social Security and being eithet homeless or starving. The next pandemic, likely avian flu, will.just kill.me
And sure as you know another epidemic is coming at some point, mother nature is heartless about that type of thing, so – that’s just how it goes. You are 100% correct.
Amazing that they managed to fire people they probably didn’t even mean to fire if they’d taken a week to think about it.
jason
Bird Flu had an effect, yes, but pay attention to deliberate greed, also, just like the oil companies. They see an opportunity to screw you, and they TAKE it. This piece ran in the local free paper. Notice how the big egg supplier in California raised prices to raise profit (shades of Manchin’s daughter, no?) with a DECREASE in other costs. Remind you of all the oil companies?
https://www.santamariasun.com/opinion/the-states-largest-egg-distributor-raises-prices-makes-record-profits-though-its-costs-are-down-16266483