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June 1, 2001

"I guess if I wuz to live from now on, there's some thang's I'd never figger out," my husband grumbled. "Like the law of supply an' demand all 'em economists is always blabberin' about."

"What's your problem with that?" I inquired, wondering what was on Mel's mind.

"There's jist sump'n fishy 'bout that whole blame line o' thankin' when it comes to farmin' an' ranchin'..."

"I don't understand why it's so hard to figure out. When you don't have enough of something, prices are high.

When you have too much of something, prices are low. Seems simple enough to me," I commented.

"That's not the puzzlin' part," Mel said. "What I don't git is why it is that ever'thang a fellar seems to need for growin' a crop is always expensive, but when it comes time to sell it, he can't git nuttin' fer it."

"Again, it's supply and demand. Inputs are scarce, so prices are high..."

"Okay, tell me this. The supply of farmers is way down compared to what it wuz an' there's more people, or demand, than there used to be. How come farmers ain't benefited from that?"

"They're so much more efficient and produce more, plus you have to take into consideration the growing world supply of commodities also competing for the same markets, which drives the prices down..."

"Then you tell me why tractors an' trucks is so high when we got way more than we can drive. You'd thank they'd git cheap, an manufacturers would cut back on production an' not make any new models when they ain't eben sold the old ones, but they jist keep right on buildin' 'em an' we keep right on buyin' 'em at a high price. One thang fer sure, they ain't sellin' 'em fer less than it costs to build 'em, but lots o' farmers are gittin' less fer commodities than whut they got in 'em, an' that don't seem right to me.

"Another thang," Mel continued, "they can keep a inventory of tractors an' trucks an 'at kiney stuff, who keeps up with the supplies of commodities? I mean, they tell us the price is cheap because there's too much grain an' we take thur word fer it, but how do we know it's rilly so?

"An' how come droughts an' floods don't seem to have much impact on whut the farmers git fer thur commodities, but the grocery store jacks the price up an' uses these disasters as an excuse? An' if commodities is cheap, it seems like the seeds fer growin' 'em oughtta be cheap, but they ain't..."

"Obviously, there isn't an overabundance of seed, otherwise they would be a dime a dozen," I replied. "Some smart farmers are getting a better price for their efforts by growing seed crops."

"Thank so, or is the middle man the one making the profit?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions," I said. "I'm not sure I know the answers to some of them..."

"Well that's a revelation," Mel cracked. "Since when have you been short an explanation or an opinion on anythang?"

"Not often, but I guess it's as good a time as any to start charging for information, while your demand for it's greater than my supply."