(LPAC) -- The record run-up of the U.S. heating oil price highlights the impact of hyperinflation on everyday essentials. On Sept. 12, the October heating oil futures hit the highest price ever on the New York Mercantile Exchange, soaring to $2.2224 a gallon, closing up 1.7% for the day at $2.2190, which is the historic record on the NYMEX since November, 1978, when heating oil futures were first launched there. At the same time, crude oil hit an all time NYMEX record price, at $80.18 a barrel, then settled down Sept. 13 to $79.75 at mid-morning.

Though objective particulars are offered as explanations for such rising prices, including the fact of "shallow" U.S. heating oil stocks for Fall, and the prospect of maintenance downtime at refineries, the hyperinflation is in fact consistent with the lack of government intervention to deal with the breakdown of the financial system at large, and the many intensifying patterns associated with that, including speculation in fuels, agro-commodities and gold, and the drop in the dollar. Meantime, base metals prices are staying relatively level, as industrial and construction demand falls, and certain computer-driven speculation has been knocked out with the demise of the hedge funds.

Wheat prices rose above $9 a bushel--more than double that of a year ago, on the Chicago Board of Trade in overnight trading Sept. 12 (for December delivery).

On Sept. 12, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its monthly "World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates," which reported that world wheat stocks are heading toward a 26-year low. The grain scarcity comes from decades of "global sourcing" for food, driving down infrastructure and agriculture stability, capped off by today's mania of diverting farm capacity to biofuels, not food.

New announcements of food price hikes are coming out daily. U.S. mega-baker Sara Lee, and Jimmy Dean meat company said on Sept. 11 that they will continue to raise retail prices.