The price of eggs have been soaring in the United States.
Now inflation continues to be an issue, especially when it comes to daily
items that people need food, groceries, gas, stuff like that.
But when it comes to eggs,
there's actually something else at play that's worth discussing.
Now First off, how much has the price of eggs shot up in the United States?
Well, in California for example, data shows the average price for
a dozen eggs reached $7.37 last week compared with $2.35 a year ago.
And that's significant, right?
You see that price increase and it's pretty jarring.
So what gives?
Well first off there has been increased demand for
egg at a time when there's decreased supply.
So since inflation is hitting meat prices and
consuming meat is far more expensive, some people have decided to save money
by replacing meat as their primary protein with eggs instead, right?
It's a cheaper option.
So that has increased demand.
But there's been a big issue with supply.
Nearly 58 million birds have been infected with avian flu as of january
6th according to the USDA.
Making it the deadliest outbreak in US history.
Infected birds must be slaughtered,
causing egg supplies to fall and prices to search.
In fact, bird flu is carried by free flying waterfowl such as ducks,
geese and shorebirds and infects chickens, turkeys, pheasants,
quail, domestic ducks, geese and guinea fowl.
In other major recent epidemic of the disease that killed more than
50 million chickens and turkeys in 2014 and 2015,
while causing economic losses of $3.3 billion according to the USDA, Cenk.
>> Yeah, I was wondering what was going on too because my wife and
her friends were in a full scale panic the other day.
They are on their after talking to like now trader Joe's is out.
Where are we going going to whole foods, where are we going?
It's out. And then they're so expensive.
And it became like this early Easter where we're all on an egg hunt.
But the funny thing is, do you know how much I like to save her life and
save different things?
So when the eggs got super expensive, I was like precious eggs.
And then as I'm eating him since I'm double savoring him, I was ecstatic.
>> Okay, so we should go to this video because it explains how this
isn't really just about the United States.
There are other countries that are impacted as well.
Let's watch.
>> Global bird populations are being ravaged this year by a deadly strain of
avian influenza.
Across Canada, the virus has hit an estimated five million birds
with the highest levels of infection in Alberta and BC.
The disease has struck more than 260 Canadian farms and
production facilities far more than any other year over the last decade.
>> I would describe the scope as explosive and sort of all encompassing.
I mean, it really is a huge problem globally and here in Canada.
>> So what changed in 2022?
Scientists speculate this virus is starting to impact more species and
gaining a new foothold in North and South America.
>> Yeah, it's actually pretty disastrous.
And so my gut instinct with these kinds of stories is what did the United States do
to cause this?
But it turns out that it was actually spread through migratory birds from
Europe.
So this isn't really like a deregulation issue,
which often tends to be the case when we talk about food being contaminated
with things like ecoli for instance, right?
But that is not the case with this,
It was caused by migratory birds coming from Europe.
I wanna go to one more video Cenk, because this one really blew my mind.
And I wanna warn you guys, this one actually has some images that
are difficult to watch because it involves birds that are not doing so well.
I just wanna give you that warning.
But with that said, let's watch.
>> For Minnesota turkey farmer John Zimmerman,
there are some added costs of doing business these days.
>> This is the dirty side and
anything from past that Mark is considered clean inside the barn.
>> Every time Zimmerman or one of his employees enters this barn,
home to some 7500 turkeys, they have to put on fresh boots and
coveralls, wash their hands and slide on gloves.
It's all meant to prevent the spread of a deadly avian influenza or bird flu.
This strain is so contagious that a single case found in any of his barns would
likely force Zimmerman to kill his entire flock.
This virus is also proving deadly to certain wild birds like this eagle who've
been hit much harder by this strain than in past outbreaks.
>> We've never seen this before.
>> Dr Victoria Hall directs the University of Minnesota's Raptor center.
Well over 100 raptors have come into the center suffering with avian flu,
seizing unable to stand, unresponsive.
>> That video makes me really sad.
Yeah, especially that last owl in the corner,
it's almost like the emoji eyes that are about to cry.
>> Owls are so cute.
There's an owl in our neighborhood that likes to do its thing at 5:00 in
the morning, every morning and it sounds like it says, who cooks for you?
It's really cool.
>> That's a question that everybody should ask really.
Who cooks for you?
So this is actually gonna get to a larger issue about supply and
demand believe it or not.
But first I wanna note that Europe isn't sending us their best.
We need to build a wall.
They're sending birds that are causing diseases.
>> Who knew that Europe was killing more birds than windmills?
Wind, wean.
>> Windy yeah, it's a shame because Republicans normally love to.
If it had come from Canada, they weirdly love blaming Canada for everything.
I remember there was mad cow disease and America had caused them.
They're like, no way man, it was a Canadians.
>> We're the worse.
>> Okay, yes.
Okay, now the serious issue.
Look, prices are set by supply and demand.
Everybody that's taking econ one one knows that.
It's a rock solid fact of economics.
It's the number one factor of economics.
So this is a great example of it.
You have a lot less eggs because of the avian flu breakout and
you have the same in demand.
Your prices are gonna go up, okay?
And perhaps even greater demand.
So now when you see inflation overall, this will help you understand it and
get past the BS that you see in so much of media and politics.
So why did we have inflation go up?
Well, if you watch cable news or listen to politicians,
they'll say because wages were too high.
It's the worker's fault for having for making too much money, absurd.
No, it's supply and demand on the supply side, we have supply chain issues which
meant that we had less supply of all those things including for example cars.
We had a lot less cars and it drove up prices significantly.
We also had a little bit more demand because some of the government
checks that were sent out during COVID, yes.
Including the individuals did create a situation where they
had a little bit more spending power, and that created more demand.
That's why we had inflation, not because of wages.
Every time you hear that understand that you're hearing,
listening to either someone who's ignorant or
lying to you on purpose because they wanna keep your wages lower.
>> Yes, I could not agree with that more.
So that's what's going on with egg prices.
Hopefully things correct as avian flu somehow alleviated.
The USDA is thinking about creating a vaccine in response to this because
the last time we had this issue was in 2014 and 2015, was a huge problem,
obviously continues to be a problem.
So I hope they do find a solution to it.
But at least I got my answers on why eggs are so expensive.
All right, guys. >> Anna, the vaccine sounds like it
would be excellent, but I say ivermectin.