September 2008 Archive

Maple syrup shortage?

I was reading on the Businessweek website that there is a maple syrup shortage from Canada that is effecting the price of food.  I did not realize that Canada makes 80% of the world’s maple syrup!  Many consumers have been switching to maple syrup as a sweetener in their baking products so the demand for maple syrup has been increasing.  Canada had a mild spring this year, which lowered their maple syrup production.  New England, however, had a banner year and had lots of maple syrup.

As I was reading this story I found myself wondering why it took so long for this story about Canada having a mild spring (effecting the maple syrup supply) to enter the news media – their spring was six months ago for crying out loud!

And I was surprised to learn that so much syrup came from Canada because when I buy maple syrup at the store it always says it was from a New England state!

Gas prices continue to increase

With Hurricane Ike bearing down on the Gulf Coast, the price of gas is going up again.  It seems lately that any and everything seems to be an excuse to raise the price of gas!  I understand that there is concern that the refineries might be damaged and that will cause an oil/gas shortage.  I sure wish that “we” (and by “we” I mean this country) would aggressively pursue finding other sources of energy so we could end our dependency on fossil fuels forever!  I think that what the American consumer is going through over gasoline prices is simply highway robbery!

Posted by Monica in Automotive, Business, Finances, Life, News, Technology