Milk Prices Could Head Higher; Message To Washington; Crazy Obamacare Ads; Lawmakers Adjust To Shutdown
WHITFIELD: All right, so the stalemate in Washington could mean higher prices at the grocery store because with Congress locked up not passing a budget, it means they're not likely to pass a new farm bill. And that means you could see higher prices at the grocery store for stuff like milk, cheese, and butter. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange with more on this. Explain.</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. How high could prices go? Let's just talk about milk for a second, you know, I was in the grocery store last night and saw a gallon of organic milk for $5.39. Imagine paying double that, $10 and change for a gallon of milk? That is a possibility and here is why. Because the farm bill expired Monday at midnight, it was the same time the government shutdown. What this it bill does is a lot of things including managing food stamps and regulating crop insurance and that helped give farmers a cash buffer and without it the cost of maintaining their livestock can easily outweigh the sales that they make and the bad part about this is there's this trickledown effect with this. Starting in January consumers will face the impact of the higher costs that farmers are paying to feed and transport their livestock. One New York agriculture rep said that could mean in the coming months the price for milk may double from $3 to $6 per gallon, and that ripples to other milk dependent foods like cheese and butter. Analysts expect Congress to extend the law for another year or two instead of agreeing on a new bill, but the problem is it's not clear when that may happen -- Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: And that's tough to hear. There are so many other food prices that have been going up.</s>KOSIK: Exactly. I mean, the Farm Bureau says you look at food prices. They've increased about 3 percent so far this year. Some items that have seen retail increases include chicken up 61 cents to just under $4 a pound. Milk has gone up a quarter a gallon. Bread and orange juice prices, yes, they're up as well. And, you know, the problem feels even worse because our wages -- wages for Americans are still stagnant. So as we see the food prices go up, it hurts our pocketbooks.</s>WHITFIELD: That is a big pinch. All right, thank you so much, Alison Kosik. The anger on the government shutdown isn't confined to Washington. All this week we have traveled across the country to ask what Americans think. And today CNN's Ted Rowlands is in St. Louis asking Middle America what's their message to Washington, how angry are they?</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we're getting the same message pretty much in every city we go to. People are not happy with the shutdown and with the federal government. We're in St. Louis, and that means the St. Louis arch, which is a federal monument which means it is closed because of the shutdown. I mean, 75 parks employees out of work, furloughed. Another 50 employees that work inside the arch also out of work. They run the trolley, the gift shop, et cetera, and then the visitors, the angry visitors including Douglas Brower. He had this on his bucket list. He's from New Jersey. Douglas, what message do you have for the folks in Washington?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think if they would stop playing silly games like little kids and get this it done and straightened out. Otherwise come November or whenever they're up for re-election, don't worry, we're not voting for you.</s>ROWLANDS: And this was a trip you had planned?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. This was on my bucket list and not going to get to do it, I guess.</s>ROWLANDS: You can see the outside. You can't ride up into the arch. This is Marla Maples also here. She is here from Pittsburgh to watch the Cardinals/Pirates game, but also wanted to see the arch and go up in it. Your message to Washington and lawmakers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a shame that --</s>ROWLANDS: This is a family program.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I think it's a shame that the American people and visitors to our country can't see these national monuments that we have around the country. They're beautiful to see. It's a shame we can't see them now.</s>ROWLANDS: Fred, this is really the theme that we've been getting is that people are disgusted. Their sense of disappointment, but there's also a sense of anger. A lot of people tune out Washington and expect the worst. But when they create something like this that actually impacts people's lives, it really does turn people off to the core and we've seen it all weeklong and we're seeing it again here in St. Louis today.</s>WHITFIELD: Clearly a giant ripple effect from the tourists to the people operating the trolleys to the business that is are relying on the tourism there and if tourists can't get to where they want to with the arch there, that means no business for the others. Ted Rowlands, thank you so much from St. Louis, a beautiful city. All right, so after all you've heard about the government shutdown, how about you? What's your message to Washington? Make a little video for us if you don't mind and send it to ireport.com. As this shutdown continues, we may share your views here on CNN. All right, the government is adding computer capacity to handle the unexpectedly high new health care law web traffic and the Obama administration says the system is being streamlined to improve performance. Meanwhile, several states are getting the word out with about health care exchanges through ad campaigns and, guess what, some of those ads a bit extreme. CNN's Christine Romans joining us live from New York. To what extreme do you mean?</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know they're either creative or whacky, I guess, depending on your taste. These states, Fredricka, that are trying to get the word out about these health insurance exchanges, trying to get their uninsured state residents in on the action. Check out this ad from Minnesota. It's Paul Bunyan waterskiing and they had this unfortunate run-in with a tree. Listen. The tag lane is Minnesota, the land of 10,000 reasons to get health insurance, Fredricka. Look at this one from Washington State. You can see a raccoon jumping out of a trash can, this raccoon hurtling to a woman. Watch. It flies in slow motion through the air, teeth bared. This little girl names Chance shows up, there she is, taunting this woman. Chance is featured in a number of that state's spots. I guess, she's meant to highlight the freak accidents that could befall anybody who doesn't have health insurance. This is from Oregon, listen. It's so nice, right? Happy.</s>WHITFIELD: Sounds like the Coke commercial from the '70s.</s>ROMANS: Folksy music videos. The tag line is long live Oregonians. Fredricka, what they all have in common, they never say the word Obamacare. They never say the word affordable care act.</s>WHITFIELD: What do they say? Then how do people know what they're talking about?</s>ROMANS: Well, exactly. They have a tag line with a web address to go to. I think ad agencies have apparently decided that to sell Obamacare you don't want to say Obamacare. Don't make it heavy and health care insurance. That's too scary.</s>WHITFIELD: But it's sending the message -- an interesting point of view. They think it's scary but at the same time sending the message we want to entice you to come to these sites.</s>WHITFIELD: Health insurance, signing up, getting it, understanding the forms, open enrolment --</s>WHITFIELD: That's scary. That right there is scary.</s>ROMANS: But, you know, they don't want to make it sound hard or difficult. They want as many people as possible to sign up, to take a look, to look at their policies. It's very happy. Health insurance is happy.</s>WHITFIELD: Be well. Stay well. Happy.</s>ROMANS: Exactly.</s>WHITFIELD: Got it. Got the message, a little chuckle or two from those ads. All right, still to come, Republicans say they are doing everything they can to keep certain parts of the government up and running. Democrats say it's all a gimmick.