Tag: pretzels

THIS DROUGHT IS MAKING ME THIRSTY

Who needs food anyway? We’ve always got pretzels.

The Drought Goes From Bad To Catastrophic

Tyler Durden's picture

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/01/2014 21:00 -0400

As we previously commented, when scientists start using phrases such as “the worst drought” and “as bad as you can imagine” to describe what is going on in the western half of the country, you know that things are bad. However, in recent weeks the dreadful situation in California has gone from bad to catastrophic as the U.S. Drought Monitor reported that more than half of the state is now in experiencing ‘exceptional’ drought, the most severe category available. And most of the state – 81% – currently has one of the two most intense levels of drought.

 

h/t @TimOBrien

 

As WaPo reports,

While California’s problems are particularly severe, that state is not alone in experiencing significant drought right now. There are wide swaths of moderate to severe drought stretching from Oregon to Texas, with problems impacting numerous states west of the Mississippi River.

 

Some of the most severe droughts outside of California are impacting large pockets in Oklahoma, Texas and, particularly, Nevada, where more than half of the state is currently experiencing one of the two most intense drought conditions:

 

 

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As we concluded previously,

Most people just assume that this drought will be temporary, but experts tell us that there have been “megadroughts” throughout history in the western half of the United States that have lasted for more than 100 years.

 

If we have entered one of those eras, it is going to fundamentally change life in America.

 

And the frightening thing is that much of the rest of the world is dealing with water scarcity issues right now as well.  In fact, North America is actually in better shape than much of Africa and Asia.  For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “25 Shocking Facts About The Earth’s Dwindling Water Resources“.

 

Without plenty of fresh water, modern civilization is not possible.

 

And right now, the western United States and much of the rest of the world is starting to come to grips with the fact that we could be facing some very serious water shortages in the years ahead.

DID THE UTZ FAMILY BUILD THAT?

Full disclosure. The author is a proud, native Pennsylvanian and a huge fan of Utz’s pretzels and potato chips. Mmmmm, tasty. There is a good reason for this. Pennsylvanians instinctively love chips and pretzels. It’s in their DNA. In fact, there is an unconfirmed rumor that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has officially enshrined chips and pretzels as one of the basic food groups, equal to fruits, vegetables, and Philly cheesesteaks. I need to check that out. In the meantime, here’s some startling evidence to confirm what I’ve said about DNA.

IMAGE OF NORMAL DNA

IMAGE OF A PENNSYLVANIAN’S DNA

In 1921, Bill Utz quit his job at a shoe factory in Hanover, Pennsylvania. With a $300 dollar investment, Bill and his wife Salie (not a misspelling) set up shop as a two-person operation in a summer kitchen behind their home in Hanover. Salie had good knowledge of Pennsylvania Dutch cooking and used hand-operated equipment to make about fifty pounds of potato chips per hour. While Salie stayed home making chips, Bill delivered them to “mom and pop” grocery stores and farmers markets in Hanover and the Baltimore MD area.

Today, Utz Quality Foods, Inc. is the largest privately owned snack food company in the U.S. It has over 2,200 employees and annual revenues of over $400 million dollars with distribution centers stretching from Maine to Louisiana. That’s a perfect snapshot of how successful free enterprise works.

Utz is certainly not a unique story of American capitalism. It has happened thousands of times in our nation’s history. But sometimes we need to be reminded that people like Bill and Salie Utz created something very beneficial not just to themselves, but to our country. Private sector jobs which supported the employees and their families. Personal income, real estate, sales, and corporate taxes which supported the nation, Pennsylvania, and the local community. Products which consumers freely bought and enjoyed. Major purchases from farmers who grew the crops and from manufacturers who made the equipment used by Utz.

Another important feature of Bill and Salie’s adventure with capitalism is that it didn’t cost anyone else a nickel. They took the risk, they used their own money, and they used their own labor to kick start this successful enterprise. As a result, over the nine decades Utz has existed, literally billions of dollars have been pumped into the U.S. economy and government treasuries.

At the end, there’s a link to the historical timeline of Utz Quality Foods. As you read through the history of the company, I think you will be struck, as I was, about the long term positive economic impact Utz has had, from the enormous expansion of their manufacturing facilities to an explosion in the number of employees. Just from one company. And yes, starting with Bill and Salie Utz, the Utz family did build that.

www.utzsnacks.com/about_history.html

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