It is another Fall Sunday and down here the temps have cooled a bit (but for how long?) and my attempt to bring a little FYI to your day.
We all have had sticker shock when we visit our local supermarket…..am I right? It seems that nothing comes down and just keeps eating into our wallets.
Some say that food prices lead to the victory in the last election.
Where do live?
How are prices in your state?
I live in Mississippi and you would think that because of the low wages and living standard we would be on the low end of the scale of prices…..if you think that then sorry but you would be wrong.
Curious how the price of eggs (and other groceries) is really looking across the country? Visual Capitalist has the scoop on how grocery shopping averages out across the US, with the median household dropping $270 on a weekly haul. That’s up about 20% nationwide since August 2020. Wisconsin fared best in the analysis—with households dishing out about $221 per week—while these 10 states had the most costly grocery tabs in America:
- Hawaii: $334 per week
- Alaska: $329
- California: $298
- Nevada: $295
- Mississippi: $291
- Washington: $288
- Florida: $287
- New Mexico, Texas: $286 (tie)
- Louisiana: $283
See the full list on Visual Capitalist.
Find your state and be thankful, if lower than MS, that you do not live here.
But why are food prices so high?
There are probably many things to answer for these increases but the one that I believe is the best contributor is….greed.
Grocery stores’ profit margins increased in recent years, according to a March 2024 report by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC report notes that food and beverage retailers saw their revenues outpace their costs by more than 6% in 2021. That was a new high for that particular profit measure until 2023, when it reached 7%.
Food manufacturers have relied on price hikes and other tactics to maintain profitability, as well. Take chocolate for example, which has become even more expensive to make this year because of record-high cocoa prices. Companies saw shoppers become more sensitive to chocolate prices as they went up. While shoppers spent more money on chocolate in each of the past two years, they actually cut back on the quantities they bought, according to NielsenIQ data provided to NerdWallet in March.
When that happens, companies know they can’t keep raising prices without further impacting their sales volume. Instead, they make other product changes, like shrinking packages, giving you less product for the same price. That maneuver is known by detractors as shrinkflation.
Members of Congress and the Biden administration have taken turns slamming food companies for these tactics. President Joe Biden called out “shrinkflation” during his State of the Union speech in March. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren blamed high grocery prices on “corporate price gouging” during a Senate subcommittee hearing on high food prices in May.
FTC Chair Lina Khan has said she wants the commission to launch an inquiry into big grocery chains’ pricing practices.
A commission huh?
That ought to bring prices down.
That aside does anyone see lower prices with the incoming economic plan?
I do not.
Whatcha think?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
With so few external reasons why supermarkets continue to increase prices, the only answer is greed of course. (And tax avoidance) For example, the CEO of our largest supermarket chain (Tesco) was paid a staggering £9.9 MILLION in salary and share benefits for the 2023-2024 financial year. The year before that he received around £7.5 million. And he is registered as living in Ireland, so pays zero tax in the UK.
Best wishes, Pete.
Musk and Bezos pay less than 1% of the rest of us….so yes greed is the best answer. chuq
Because of the destruction of the immigrant labor force, Trumpflation will cause prices to be at least three times higher than they are now on stuff that requires immigrant labor to process and get to the markets. Because of the Trump tariff scheme, prices on imported goods will be egregiously higher than they are now.
There is no positive outlook.
I agree and that is why I asked the question and anyone that thinks they will go down is deluded. chuq
There are so many causes for inflation, and you have mentioned many. It’s also important to remember that during the pandemic our entire food supply, including distribution, was disrupted. To assume that anyone’s economic policy will have a dramatic effect is perhaps a bit naive, but if Trump can make a noticeable impact on prices then we have to give him credit. The policies he has so far expressed interest in, however, will have the opposite effect. And I’m curious who will pick the produce that grows in our country when seasonal workers are forced out of the country.
Americans do not want the job or there would be no work for those immigrants…..prices will not slow down and we will have to tighten our belts. chuq
Yes we will and you are right: they are taking the jobs most Americans won’t do.
This will not be pretty come 2025 chuq
We have laws against monopolies, excess profits, and price fixing. There should be investigations for violations of those laws.
Price controls could be used, but those don’t always bring the results that are needed. Could result in reducing supply.
The monopoly thing is a past dream…..we have them showing up everyday under the guise of efficiency and jobs saved….both are lies. chuq
Under the new regime the rule of law will be suspended to favor the ambitions of the power elite and common people will not be worth a dime….the new regime will create their own monopolies and none of them will be subject to investigation unless it is investigation by members of one of the federal agencies that Trump plans to staff with his own cronies…and we all know where those kinds of investigations will go….don’t we?
None of that is going to happen.
Dear Mr. Harben…. You seem like a reasonable person so I am going to ask you, “If I am proven to be correct on my prediction, will you do me the honor of telling me that I was right? Or will you be like a lot of my old conservative readers (Year ago now) who simply kept their mouths shut and said nothing when my predictions came true? Just asking.
I will be happy to tell you were right But you will have to save your prediction and remind me.
I have determined that blogging about politics is no longer a safe passtime so as of today I have stopped all of it.
but it appears that not everybody follows those laws. It hasn’t been too long ago since a major food grocery chain actually confessed to price gouging…and got away with it.
Was not aware of that
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/kroger-executive-admits-company-gouged-prices-above-inflation/ar-AA1pBoLi
Nothing in that meets the legal definition of price gouging.
That’s right, Ernest– there is no price gouging going on… every business is operating 100% above board and in favor of the consumer…It is the consumer who is at fault for complaining about the high prices. If the consumers had taken advantage of all the opportunities that America offers to them, then they would not have to worry about high prices and the poor are all losers who contribute nothing to the society and need to be expelled to somewhere else so they won’t be a burden on the hard working taxpayers. Let’s hope that the new adminstration will do something to rid America of the destitute and the poor and the elderly and the sick so that they do not remain a taxpayer burden. Why should I spend my hard earned money on programs designed to give free services to people who never did anything to earn them? Let’s get rid of Medicare and Medicaid and food stamps and social security and all the rest of those wasteful woke programs once and for all time. It is time that everybody begin to take responsibility for themselves and stop depending on the government to do everything (Let’s make that “anything”) for them. Get rid of all the government employees who have the expertise and the experience and replace them with people who haven’t a clue about how government operates… that will save a bundle of money ….Lets dump all those old ideas about democracy and copy some of the more successful systems like Franco’s Spain and Orban’s Hungary. How about that?
You want to move to Spain? Go ahead.
I am going nowhere unless I get deported.