We used to say that a prerequisite for being in Congress was the ability to do one’s own taxes.  Now we are adding another caveat…all members of government from the President on down to the Federal Reserve should have to do their own grocery shopping.  And then we can talk about inflation.

I just came back from the grocery store and I’m ripping mad. 

It does NOT take a PhD in Economics to see that something bad is happening on the inflation front…just a pound of bacon or a loaf of bread can tell the whole story.

Inflation is destroying our way of life.

When the Fed announced its second round of quantitative easing last year, during just the months of September and October cotton prices rose 54%, sugar was up 51%, orange juice up 17% and wheat was up from the beginning of July by 36%.

Now we can all cut back on our dinners at restaurants, a new spring wardrobe and phone and cable costs.  We can even leave the car at home and in many parts of the country switch to mass transit. But not one of us has yet figured out how to survive without food. 

So what causes inflation? 

Printing money is the source of the problem and the Federal Reserve is the culprit.  The more money the Fed prints the less purchasing power we have.  But, thanks to our national debt, the only way on earth the US government can ever hope to pay back that debt is to print more and more money. 

The only way this ruinous cycle can be erased is for Congress to stop the “bs” and cut as much spending as possible.  And yes, Harry Reid, that means no more money for your beloved Cowboy Poetry Festival, too.

A second bigger challenge would be to finally end the Fed, which, since is inception in 1913 has overseen the loss of the dollar’s purchasing power by 95%.  Now THERE’S a track record for you.

As for us, and ever-rising food prices, there are also a few ways we can buy some breathing space.

1.    Start storing as much non-perishable food as you can.

2.    Bookmark grocery comparison websites and never go to the store without viewing them first.  CouponMom.com, The Krazy Coupon Lady and The Grocery Game not only provide coupons but they can alert you to deep discounts and sales that are coming up.

3.    Groupon.com offers deeply discounted vouchers that may be used in local as well as national businesses.

4.    If you have a smartphone check out RedLaser, which will allow you to scan the barcode of an item and show you what the same item is selling for in other stores.

We wish we could tell you that higher food prices are just a short-term aberration.  Unfortunately, if Washington continues to support almost non-existent interest rates, continued printing of bogus dollars and nominal cuts in spending, instead of your family spending only 13% of your annual budget on food, you could quite possibly be spending 40% of annual income by 2015, according to the National Inflation Association.

“Do you want fries with that” will no longer be a national punch line but rather an unattainable dream.

Read More In: Family & Money Invest Wisely