Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
By the way, during our discussion of high energy prices in Massachusetts, with the exception of one call from Canada, we did not hear from any other states. So I'm wondering if this is a problem that is limited to Massachusetts, because frankly, on most nights we end up with a lot of callers from a lot of different states. So we're going to kind of change topics here and go to the price of eggs. The agricultural agriculture secretary the
Trump administration is a woman named Brooke Rawlins. I have no idea what her background is. Obviously she's a supporter of Donald Trump. She's the Secretary of Agriculture. So she in the Wall Street Journal today talked about this and talked about what she would like to do. She said, there's no silver. She talks about the Avian flu. Okay, we can't blame anyone for the Avian flu, to the
best of my knowledge. Okay, but she makes out the point that the price of eggs under Biden's presidency rose twenty percent, but the average price of eggs rose gross like that strike that She says grocery prices rose by twenty percent under President Biden. That's a lot. But the average price of a dozen eggs went up two hundred and thirty seven percent from one hundred from a dollar forty seven in January twenty twenty one to four ninety five last month. That's a lot. Okay, there were some
places where people are paying six, seven or ten dollars. Now. A part of this is avian flu, which has, according to her, state of American poultry farmers and slash the egg supply over the past two years. You can't blame Joe Biden for the avian flu. Okay. However, she said the Biden aminonistration did little, So what is she going to do. She's announcing a strategy to combat avian flu. The Agriculture Department invest the billion dollars to currup the
crisis and make eggs affordable again. Here's the problem. Donald Trump said that when he gets into office, he's going to do this, this, and this. He's now been in office for a month. Eventually these problems. The longer you're in office, you basically assumed these problems. I'm not willing to blame Donald Trump tonight for the price of eggs. But I want to watch what this Secretary of Agriculture
is gonna do. She says, we have a five prong strategy. First, we'll dedicate up to five hundred million dollars helping US poultry producers implement gold standard biosecurity measures. Okay, that's fine. She says that she went to an egg production farm in Texas, stringent members to prevent contamination, vehicles hosed down before entering the property. I've never really been to a chicken farm as it were, but I've been to a
turkey farm. They're pretty dirty. Okay, so she said. Second, we'll make up to well, we will make up to four hundred million dollars of increased financial aid available to farmers whose flocks are affected by avian flu. I. Like, you know, if you're going to spend some government money, that's okay. Third, the USDA US Department of Agricultures exploring
the use of vaccines and therapeutics for laying chickens. While vaccines on a standalone solution, We'll provide up to a hundred million in research and development of a vaccines and therapeutics to improve their efficacy, and efficiency. I like that this should help reduce the need to here's one of those euphemisms depopular flocks that means killed chickens, which means killing chickens on a farm with as an outbreak. Fourth, in addition to tackling avian flud, will take other actions
to lower the price of eggs. For starters, we'll remove unnecessary regulatory burdens and egg producers where possible. This will include examining the best way to protect farmers from overly prescriptive state laws, such as California's Prop. Twelve, which established minimum space requirements for egg laying hens. Well with the number of eggs who have been depopulated, the hens probably have more space now than they've ever had before. But in California, the average price of a dozen eggs nine
dollars and sixty eight cents. And finally, we'll consider temporary import options to reduce egg costs in the short term. Import eggs, okay, we will proceed with imports only if the eggs meet string in US safety standards and if we determine that doing so won't jeopardize American farmers' access to markets in the future. So that's a policy. That's a plan. I like it. What are you paying for eggs and what are you doing? I had I wanted to have eggs this morning. We have eggs in the refrigerator.
But I had pancakes. I had blueberry pancakes this morning. That was my action of the day. And you know I had tonight for dinner, I had a salad. It took a little extra effort to make a salad. Then it did just just do a can of soup. But I feel better having had a salad. So we got to start thinking when you go to the store. If you look at those expensive cookie brands, don't buy them. I see cookies now well known cookies that used to be two fifty package then now four bucks for what
I don't know. Don't buy them. Let them sit there, let them go stale. That's all. We got to be smarter as consumers. It's as simple as that. Let's go to call. I'm going to go to Rick and Bill. Rick or Rick, appreciate you calling in. You are first on the question of eggs, the price of eggs. How are you Rick?
I'm doing well and I love eggs and they're a good source source of protein. Absolutely and yeah, and I haven't purchased them in recent times because of the inflated prices have the bill Rick and market Basket, but they actually do a pretty good job of bringing pressure how much.
If you remember how much of eggs? How much are eggs? I'm going to go to market Basket some day later this week because I always save money when I go to market Basket.
Well, you do the qualities. The quality is fine, you know, Shaws and Wegmans can be higher quality and sometimes better.
But it's good.
You're not really you're right.
You know.
I mean I've never had I've never bought a product at uh at at Wegman's. Uh that that turned quickly. I've bought products at most other supermarkets. Strawberries, I love strawberries, and you know, they're in the refrigerator for a day and a half and all of a sudden you realize there's a couple of rotten strawberries in there. Are that are moldy. Never had that happen at market Basket.
Oh okay, I mean this is where I always went as a kid when I grew up in Burlington, and my father used to go there in the seventies, and so I just I'm down the street from my house is located down the street.
So I go, what what an exit market basket?
I think I haven't checked the exact price, but I thought I thought a few weeks back or a month ago, I was looking at prices at five or six dollars something like that.
I would have dot that. I will doubt that, and I'll tell you I'll doubt that.
I'll tell you what because I'm not positive.
No, no, no. I bought eggs at Shaw's the other day. I think it was four ninety five, which again, you know, you buy one dozen eggs, which you're going to hold you for. You know, even with a family, you're going to hold you for a couple of weeks. When the price of gas line up, you were buying ten gallons at a time, it has cost you a three bucks
more per gallon. So that's it's really hitting you. I'll pay four ninety five for eggs in the short term because there they are, as you say, an important product. If anybody out there has bought eggs and market basket in the last week, I'll bet you it's less than four ninety five.
I hope, yeah, because I checked a little bit back. Yeah, and I don't want to. I mean I wasn't checking everybody. Oftentimes you they don't put them well, they do in market basket, but you don't always see the price of things.
It probably I haven't market I can go into market basket and buy progressive soup two for five dollars and so on a night. And I'm lazy and I want to have and I'm just I don't want to cook anything or make a salad team. I'll throw a can of minister and soup.
Uh.
If you go into Shawls or something like that, that same cana soup is going to be three ninety nine.
It's going to be a lot more expensive. I wish you could buy a stick of butter. You can't do that anymore. It seems I went to market Basco. I was trying to find a stick of butter. So I made a deal with my brother. I said, buy a four pack and I'll buy two from you today. That's sweet.
But butter doesn't really good. But boy is that butter doesn't really go bad? Right?
No, it really doesn't. I mean you can leave butter out, can I tell you?
Can I tell you? And awaken one any secret about butter.
Please, butter will.
Help you lose weight. Yes. I was stunned to find that because when I first started with Awaken one eighty, I said, well, you I used butter on sandwiches. Said what's the problem with that? I said, well, I assume butter. You know, I gotta eliminate butter. No, no, so I use butter in I and it hasn't put It hasn't impacted my weight loss at all.
No, you're in good shape.
I me in better shape now than it was ten years ago. I'll tell you that I was five to eight one sixty eight at this point.
Well, you've been there for ten years. Don't don't lose any more than that. But I got to lose about fifteen or twenty pounds, get to one ninety five, that would be good. I just thank you for that tidbit on the waking money. I appreciate that a lot. I just wanted to say, I know you're not talking about the energy, but I just want to say thank you for bringing all this stuff up about the ones that the heads of the it's the heads of the Department of Energy that were elected.
Department of policies, the people basically governor Healy should going and bowl them all out.
So guess what, And I agree with you because you know, if we if we could have brought them the price I uh five instead of a we could have got a reduction on a better deal at ten. That companies will say, we'll give you a ten. And she says five. That's a clear indication that they don't care about the American consumer.
It would be like, you know, I don't know what you I don't know what you do for a job. Let me just assume your your work for a company hypothetically and you you know, but I'm saying if you work for company and you go into your boss and you know, you say, you have been here a couple of years, and uh, you know, I'd like to get a little raise, and the boss says, well, what are you looking for? And well, you know, I've been here for I haven't had a raisin. I'd like three percent
and he says three percent. And then you find out from somebody, well the other people went in and asked for eight percent and they gave eight percent. You're going to say to yourself, the DPU said to the utilities cut the rates in Marching April five, percent, big deal. They came the companies came back a national grid and Everso's came back and said, we'll see you five percent and we'll raise the cut to ten. The DPU was totally out of.
Exactly, fire them.
Fire the three of them say thank you for your service. We appreciate it, but we're moving on. That's not going to happen, though. I call on the governor tonight to fire the three of them. Boom, start from scratch.
I agree, I agree. I clean a dealership and I do some sing and I do I do a couple other things as well. But that's uh. In terms of the my my two favorite bosses of the dealership. They give me a raise unless I make a really good but they take care of me just fine.
Good Rick, I got to run them well into the newscast. So I got you all right, thank you very much, Thank you very much. You too. To the rest of the call is you've only been there a few minutes, so none of you are going to get the time. Rick got. Let's pick up the pace. I got one line open. I want to hear from ten people between now and midnight. They're I'm going to be solely disappointed. The lines are packedful right now, which is the way I like it. And I got Dallas in Ohio coming back.
We're going to find out what the price of eggs are at Ohio. I'll bet you they're better than Massachusetts. I just kind of think so because they have more farms there. We'll see back on nights Side right after this. Dallas, you hold on, I'm coming to get you.
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's news radio.
Let's go to Dallas in Ohio. Hey, Dallas, welcome back.
Yeah, how you doing, Dan?
I'm doing great? What the heck the eggs cost in Ohio?
Okay? I bought a Baker's dozen about about two weeks ago, and around that time there was shortage, you know, there was talker shortages on the shelves, and local news was showing the shelves and some of the stores and they had very little eggs on the shell. So I went to the or in much of my surprise, the store that I go to, the shelves are loaded and plenty of eggs, you know, the regular the white eggs and
the brown eggs. So I picked up a Baker's dozen and they were less than seven bucks, which kind of surprised.
That, isn't it. So you got thirty you got thirteen eggs for seven.
Bucks, actually eighteen.
Oh, so you got eighteen for seven bucks. Okay, that's a good deal. So you're that you were paying about four eighty if you if you figured out that out, Yeah, that's so that's about what I guess people are paying here. I figured that in a frontal You guys have a lot more farms and a lot more you know, chicken farms. There were some cities here in Massachusetts where you can keep chickens in your backyard. Okay, now people want to keep chicken in their backyard.
Well, you could have chickens in the county did I live in? But you have to have a permit for them in order to have them.
Yeah, how much did they charge you for the permit?
I don't know, I really, I really don't know. Ye.
But yeah, what's the what's the feeling out there towards uh, what's going on in out of Washington? I mean, it's been a tumultuous a month and well five weeks now in Washington. And you know, we talked last night about maybe some sort of a deal in terms of the Ukraine War. Uh, it's been tumultuous, but I guess we've got to buckle up for the ride.
Yes, that's that's all we can do. Of course. You know, Ohio as has always been a Republican state, and I don't know, there's a lot going on. Some people that you know, could say something, they're really not saying anything, any kind of quiet. But yeah, I think here we're just sitting back and you have you.
Had the Vice President of the United States is from Ohio, originally from Kentucky, but you know it was it was your one of your two senators there for a while.
Oh I thought it was muss.
Yeah, well I see that his name wasn't on the ticket. What are you doing, Ohio? You are you still working or you retired?
No, I'm retired.
You tired?
Did you do?
Well? You know, I'm in Akron, Ohio, and Akron was known as the rubber capital of the world. You know we manufactured uh tires, Well we still do, but small operations. But I worked for one of the major major corporations here in my location.
Were you in the tire industry?
Yes? Yes?
And did you work You sound to me like you probably were a white collar guy.
Yes, all of the material materials that go into uh building a tire. Uh, the department that I worked worked in, Uh, we tested all of the various materials and uh, you know that go into manufacturing building a tire. Yeah, I you know, some synthetic rubber, natural rubber. You'd be surprised what goes into attire.
I'll bet, I'll bet you know. I thought that at one point met the mayor of Akron, Ohio here in Boston around the time of the Democratic Convention. And I'm looking at the list of your current mayor is a guy named Shamas Malik.
As understand, really nice guy. I'm mad him. He's very personal, really nice guy.
Yeah, And I for some reason, the name of the guy who was the mayor doesn't ring a bell. But I'm pretty sure I had met the mayor of Akron, Ohio. And I was trying to figure I was trying to pull the name, but I can't of look at these pictures and names and say to you, yeah, I met that guy, was a younger guy, but I don't see
him here. Don pasqually, he he was your mayor a long time eighty seven to twenty fifteen, which would have been around that time, but I don't remember remember him as being a younger guy, but I know it was around the time of the Democratic Convention here in Boston. Hey, Dallas, is always great to hear your voice. I so much appreciate you calling in, and please continue to do so. Okay, sure, Dan, I will thank Okay, Bye bye, Ted and ever Ted,
you're next on the nights. I go right ahead, a little closer to home, Ted, go ahead.
Hey Dan, A long long time the last time we talked. I'm a big fan of Reagan and Tip on the out and that's what we need back.
In this country.
I worked my career in consumer goods for years, dealt with all the major supermarkets. I own convenience stores, so I get this whole thing from both sides. Uh. This is the third election I did not vote for either major candidate. Trump admitted right after he won that he couldn't do the price of eggs. And then the thing that you have to understand is I would encourage anybody.
It was a great article with Times by Faris Stockman right before the vote to say this is what the Democrats need to do because the funms are all owned by big agriculture and the farmers in the South that were getting hurt the Biden administration actually tain't changed your anti trust loss to help them that Trump was going to roll back. But they don't see it that way because they can't do the messaging. And when you I worked for a global Beholmes that when it was owned
by the original people were very good. They would listen to us about price increases. We get sold out to private equity and they killed it because they just want more and more and more. And if you read last month, read away their earnings were so bad for last year. They're now doing this thing called value packages for lower prices. But gir also didn't get more air in the bag now. I opened up a bag of popcorn last night and I couldn't believe it. It was twenty five percent full.
Like literally, it looked like I already ate it before I opened it. And everything you said is true. People have to shop smart. Your guy at market Basket is totally off. I paid four fifty nine last week for eighteen eggs, eighteen brown eggs. They had a special package. So I just think that you know, it's depressing because I don't think anybody's hearing us and going from what you said on a state level to anywhere, because there seems to be no accountability for anybody to do anything.
And people get so fed up because they see so much stuff that's wrong. When I was in my convenience stores, you're forced to take EBT and all these programs when the people aren't spending the money correctly, and that could all be fixed immediately. That's all computer software. That's not a hard thing. But nobody wants to take the bull by the horns and look at stuff and say when you know, I shop now, I'm a little handicapped, I don't use my phone, I don't shop hungry, and I
walk around and I buy what's needed. It's not like everyone acts like it's the Blizzard of seventy eight, like we're not going to go through times again. We're not going to be able to get to the market in a few days, and the supermarkets everywhere and this competition, and I think also people should have looked at Kroger and safe way we're going to merge. Last year, the Kroger CEO admitted to Congress that they price fixed through COVID admitted it, and the merger did not go through
because they don't need to raise prices that much. And I think the difference is the bling in their class. Now there's not enough for them. It's you know, if they if they were going to drop something to help them, the stock fights might go on by a ten Okay, so maybe they're gonna make ninety million instead of one hundred and ten millions. And I firmly believe I'm probably a little younger than you. The generation you come from,
the Reagan tippo'neals of the world. They had shared sacrifice because they went through stuff together, they could agree to disagree or whatever that at the end of the day, they try to do things and everything now it's I'm petrified.
For the next year.
I just think the Democrats plan seems to me is that they just want everything to go as bad as possible and then I hope they can do something in the mid terms. It just doesn't seem that I don't want to hear Liz warn and these people just ranting and raving that that's not it's you know better than us, you're an attorney. It's policy that matters. It's what are you going to do well. It's not my attitude work.
I want to give Trump a chance, just as they gave a biden Field miserably on a number of points internationally. I think that that I don't think he was in charge about you. We'll see what happens, see what happens. I got you in before the break, but I gotta I gotta scoot, and I got more calls coming in. Thank you so much for joining us. Please continue to listen, and I'd like you to call more off because you've got a point of view. Thank you. Good night. We'll
be back on Nightside. I'm gonna get Jennifer, Matt and Christine in, I promise, and that'll probably do it for the night. But we're gonna end up strong. We'll be right back.
Now, back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World to Night Side Studios, IBZ News Radio.
All right, back we go. We gonna get everyone in. Gonna start it off with Jennifer in Boston. Jennifer next time nights, I go right ahead, Jennifer. Good, what's your take on all of this price of eggs and things that?
Well, I'm a pretty savage opera so yeah, I typically I don't buy things unless it's on sale, Like I'm that might stock a little bit too, like it depending on the shelf life or whatever it is, or space is a factor too. But anyway, with eggs, I typically get those at market Basket, and I got two or three different brands, and I usually get the organic cage free variety. Pet and berries is my uh yeah, but I don't mind, so, you know. But it's not a
bad price either. So in market basket, I find there's Pet and Jerry's Medium and they're organic and a K Tree and they're under four dollars for a dozen. Yeah, yeah, and that price has not changed yet. There's another variety I get that's no pride, I think, and they're like an armorish farm from Pennsylvania. And that one is an eighteen pack. It was three point fifty and now that did increase to only four dollars. No, yeah, not that at all. I also shop at Stop and Shop and
I utilize like their gas points and whatever. I save a lot of money there, and they are the shelves of bear. The prices were like nine to thirteen dollars, I think, yeah, And I don't buy mints there. And then then I shop at all these and traded Joe's occasionally, like you know, if I'm in the neighborhood or whatever
in PJ. So you know, but you know, I have a couple of tips, like you know for people that need to save money, and I kind of stressed out, you know, like with turkeys this this year when it was Thanksgiving season, like and there was sixty cents a pound, we bought three turkeys.
We bought.
Yeah, like we had a turkey. I'm December. Yeah, we didn't make one January because we all are sick, but and we're gonna make one. It's thombin out. We're going to cook that this weekend. So you know, we got like a twenty pound turkey for ten dollars.
You know.
Hey, talking all right, Jed, I keep rolling here. Thank you for the shopping tips. I hope people take advantage of those.
Okay, Yeah, you're welcome.
Thanks Jennifer talking to you, so please call it again, call a little earlier. You're an interesting personal like to give you more time, but I got a couple of more calls we want to get into. Okay, thanks, have a great night. Let me go next to Matt. Matt, you were next on Nightsiger. Right ahead, Matt.
Heyden, I'm gonna be quick.
Yeah, I mean the price, yahyeah, yeah, yeah, you got it. Uh no, No, they're definitely gone up. One thing I stay consistent with is I always get pastor raised eggs from Wegmans, and there's consistently seven books for a dozen. The only tid that I could say is that the stuff cage free and pass raised have stayed consistent. As I called it before, just said that's where the food wasn't affected. Pastor rays were affected seventy percent caged. So that's all I could say is you know.
That's interesting. I didn't realize that.
Yeah, all right, yeah, yeah, well you have something in a cage just living right on top of each other.
Yeah. Well that's the point when you think about it, that's that's exactly the point.
And that's why that's why I want to hit it.
Yeah yeah, yeah.
And it's healthier to eat too. It's it's worth the extra couple of books.
Yep. I would agree with them that as well. Thanks buddy, the talk soon, Okay, great, great call, and we're going to wrap it up with Christine. Christine, you were next on Nightside. You're going to wrap the show for us. Go right ahead, Christine.
Okay, a couple of weeks ago, I paid the same price at Stop and Chop eggs, same price like for everybody's saying.
So how much five dollars? You mean four fifty or something like that.
Yeah, yes, yep, it's crazy of theog eggs.
Really it is.
But but how long did do a dozen eggs last in your house?
About? Maybe just past not even enough to pass a week?
Really? Okay, so you're you're an egg either, Okay, So so that's costed you Normally they would have cost what maybe let's say a dollar ninety nine, It was costing you two dollars and fifty cents per week extra extra. Now when when you were when you were filling your car up with gas, and gas was two dollars a gallon extra, and you were throwing ten gallons in your in your guest tank every week, that was twenty dollars extra. So you're going to keep it in perspective here as far as I'm conscared.
Yeah, And have you heard rooms that's Stop and Top's going to go out on strike by the weekend. Have you heard that?
I know that that they've had some demonstrations over there, and it sounds like they may have a they may have a problem. But there are other other companies, you know, I don't know what those what the factor is, uh, the factors of that labor dispute are. But if they do go, we will will let you know. I promise.
Some of my neighbors in here and I live in a fifty five and OVA and they were saying, the one and data is pretty bare. The sounds are pretty bare.
Wow, Well that's interesting. That's that's that's not that's not good. But it doesn't it doesn't surprise me. Christine is always great to hear your voice. Thanks for checking in tonight, and we will talk soon. Okay, thank you so much much.
Thank you, christ all.
Right, we're done for the night. We spoke tonight basically about the economics, the high energy kite prices in Massachusetts for gas and electricity, and the high price of eggs. We kind of make it made it our economics, uh, one oh one. Tonight I would suggest find I find sales, you know, don't pay big prices. The only way we're going to bring bring prices down is if we have the ability to say I don't need that package of cookies. I might like to have that package of cookies, but
it's too expensive. Done for the night, back tomorrow night, everybody. All I'm remind you is always all dogs, all cats, all pets go to heaven. That's for Mike Pell, Charlie Ray, who's who passed fifteen years ago, this very month. That's why your pets are who passed. They loved you and you love them. I do believe you'll see them again. Rob Brooks, thank you much, Marita, thank you much. I'll be on Facebook on nights that with Dan Ray in
a couple of minutes. Join us there seeing themornw and everyone have a great Thursday.