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CanisLupusArctos · 05-15-2008, 01:32 AM

Earlier tonight on NBC Nightly News there was a story on the difficulties on running a restaurant in this economy (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#24624498). This restaurant owner at Cape May, NJ says he's never seen all his supplies get skyrocketing prices all at once.

This time I don't think it's any of our leaders are causing it. Many of the news reports I've been seeing are all tracing the economic problems back to oil. They usually don't come out and say it--it's just that when you watch enough different reports the pieces fit amazingly well. Our lives use more oil than we know about. The only real way to be oil-free is to forget "go green" and instead "go Amish." Oil is like the annoying in-law that won't take no for an answer. Every time you think it's gone from your home, it's really just run around the house to ring your other doorbell.

So how do the oil prices affect restaurants? Almost every aspect of producing food for today's world population relies on various petroleum products (more than just fuel). Transporting the food to where it will be eaten is only the last oil-intense step in that process. If the food comes in plastic packaging, there's another oil-intense step: Plastic is a petroleum product (another possible reason healthcare costs are skyrocketing... how many disposable plastic products are used every day in modern medicine?)

Lots of food comes in aluminum cans. Many metals including aluminum are refined using high temperatures produced by oil products. That's why these metals are getting expensive enough to cause a rising tide of metal thefts across this country-- the price that scrap yards will pay for them is going up.

The restaurants are also paying for oil in the form of utilities. Most of the world's electricity comes from power plants that use fossil fuels - usually coal. As the price of oil goes up, demand gets shifted onto coal, causing its price to rise. Many public water distribution systems are driven by machines that use petroleum products. If the cost of operating those machines goes up, then the water rates go up.

Finally, restaurants usually use gas stoves. As oil's price skyrockets, some of the demand for it gets shifted onto natural gas, causing its price to go up.

I could go on, but it would get further away from the original topic of why so many of our familiar restaurants are having such a hard time in the lakes region now. Watch the NBC news video and you'll see it's happening outside the lakes region also.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#24624498

I don't think this is the way our policy makers want it to be (I'm not standing up for them either) but I do think that for the first time in history, they can't do anything about it except pretend they can, so that we don't start throwing rotten bananas at them. The problem is worldwide: Oil demand is having a Nascar race with oil supply, and the "supply" car has its pedal to the metal while the demand car is only cruising. They're just about head-to-head and still several more laps to go...

The moral of the story? I think very highly of anyone who's keeping his or her own restaurant successful in a time like this. Hats off to you!

05-15-2008, 01:32 AM	#9
CanisLupusArctos Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Center Harbor Posts: 1,049 Thanks: 15 Thanked 472 Times in 107 Posts	NBC covers the topic Earlier tonight on NBC Nightly News there was a story on the difficulties on running a restaurant in this economy (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#24624498). This restaurant owner at Cape May, NJ says he's never seen all his supplies get skyrocketing prices all at once. This time I don't think it's any of our leaders are causing it. Many of the news reports I've been seeing are all tracing the economic problems back to oil. They usually don't come out and say it--it's just that when you watch enough different reports the pieces fit amazingly well. Our lives use more oil than we know about. The only real way to be oil-free is to forget "go green" and instead "go Amish." Oil is like the annoying in-law that won't take no for an answer. Every time you think it's gone from your home, it's really just run around the house to ring your other doorbell. So how do the oil prices affect restaurants? Almost every aspect of producing food for today's world population relies on various petroleum products (more than just fuel). Transporting the food to where it will be eaten is only the last oil-intense step in that process. If the food comes in plastic packaging, there's another oil-intense step: Plastic is a petroleum product (another possible reason healthcare costs are skyrocketing... how many disposable plastic products are used every day in modern medicine?) Lots of food comes in aluminum cans. Many metals including aluminum are refined using high temperatures produced by oil products. That's why these metals are getting expensive enough to cause a rising tide of metal thefts across this country-- the price that scrap yards will pay for them is going up. The restaurants are also paying for oil in the form of utilities. Most of the world's electricity comes from power plants that use fossil fuels - usually coal. As the price of oil goes up, demand gets shifted onto coal, causing its price to rise. Many public water distribution systems are driven by machines that use petroleum products. If the cost of operating those machines goes up, then the water rates go up. Finally, restaurants usually use gas stoves. As oil's price skyrockets, some of the demand for it gets shifted onto natural gas, causing its price to go up. I could go on, but it would get further away from the original topic of why so many of our familiar restaurants are having such a hard time in the lakes region now. Watch the NBC news video and you'll see it's happening outside the lakes region also. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#24624498 I don't think this is the way our policy makers want it to be (I'm not standing up for them either) but I do think that for the first time in history, they can't do anything about it except pretend they can, so that we don't start throwing rotten bananas at them. The problem is worldwide: Oil demand is having a Nascar race with oil supply, and the "supply" car has its pedal to the metal while the demand car is only cruising. They're just about head-to-head and still several more laps to go... The moral of the story? I think very highly of anyone who's keeping his or her own restaurant successful in a time like this. Hats off to you! Last edited by CanisLupusArctos; 05-15-2008 at 09:58 AM.