beer production, beer prices went up by $2 million a year. so we really are better off in this country and it s always stood for free market competition. i love competing. i love creating new beers. i love innovating. that s the kind of thing that happens when you have 5,000 craft breweries all trying to top each other and do something cool. so i think that s why you should care, because it s that spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that came from the independent brewers that has created all this excitement and all this great beer that s available today. jim cook, they say it s 5:00 somewhere. i guess it s 5:00 wherever it is you are right now. thank you for being here. i m a trained professional, michael. don t try this at home. or maybe do. cheers. don t operate any heavy equipment. thank you. no broadcasting under the
who cares? as long as it s a good beer, who cares, and do we really want government getting involved yet again? i know that mind-set exists. well, it is the government s responsibility to enforce the anti-trust laws, so for example, when those two big foreign brewers bought up 90% of u.s. beer production, beer prices went up by $2 million a year. so we really are better off in this country and it s always stood for free market competition. i love competing. i love creating new beers. i love innovating. that s the kind of thing that happens when you have 5,000 craft breweries all trying to top each other and do something cool. so i think that s why you should care, because it s that spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that came from the independent brewers that has created all this excitement and
the main ingredient in beer. we ve got good back to back stories. 80% of hops production in the u.s. takes place in washington state. growing hops takes a lot of water, up to three gallons per day, three gallons? three gallons? that can t be right. three gallons a day for every plant? there it is. how many plants we talking about here? beer producers are hoping lots of snow next winter. if not, it could all wind up costing you more for your beer. so you have the demand for hops. you have the high price of acreage and the potential shortage of water as three drivers of an increase in hops prices which will drive an increase in beer prices. so prices for hops have already been going up because of increasing demand for specialty varieties by brewers of craft beers. okay. well, we mentioned that memorial day concert at the capitol earlier. part of the entertainment last
time last year. missouri has the lowest prices. gas is below $2. what year is this? beer sales across the country are tapping out. sales of seven major american brands declined by more than 20%. a major reason is the recession. mainstream beer drinkers hit the hardest, but beer prices have been going up faster than other alcoholic beverages. sales for the top two mexican brands more than doubled. millions of us are in a race against the clock. still not done with the holiday shopping. 1 in 10 waits until christmas eve to buy their gifts. gloria riviera is out there braving the lines telling us where to find those deals. reporter: last-minute shoppers facing the holiday countdown surged into stores across the country. so crowded it was survival of the spendiest. others getting creative. i tend to come to places like walgreens which is far less busy
i zbloef i m driving. beer prices have gone up. give obama a grade on the economy. he doesn t have that much to do with it. fine. then we ll give him a d plus. i don t know why you re looking at me. this isn t about you. i actually don t know anything about the economy. what would you give? i ll do the interview. even if you were jeffrey dahmer we would love you. what s the unemployment rate at right now? do you know what the unemployment right is right now? oh, 99%. adam smith? he s an economist back in the 1800s? he said laissez faire? what s that again? laissez faire. let s get that right. grade obama on the national debt. oh, really bad. f. but it was strategic. do you know what the debt is right now? no. inform me, please.