I've been hearing reports from local farmers of butcher shops and supermarkets alike selling hamburger for $8-$9 for 1lb packages. 

One shop has a sign out front stating they have hamburger for $3.99/lb, limit 2.  That's more the going rate around here.  $4-$5 is about right for "regular" beef.

Before we do too much screaming about packers and boxed beef and how bad we're getting screwed, maybe we need to make sure the guy down the road isn't giving us all a bad rap by really sticking it to the very people we would all love to be selling to...the local buyer.