Americans rewire their grocery shopping routines while digesting the biggest price jump in 50 years
Couponing, comparison shopping and cutting back on favorite foods are new habits for her and millions of other Americans as they absorb the biggest jump in grocery prices in a half-century. Buying food to eat at home has gotten 33% more expensive in U.S. cities since the beginning of 2019, according to government figures. In the 7 1/2 years before that, prices rose 6.4%.
The historic increase happened for numerous reasons. The coronavirus pandemic snarled supply chains and raised labor and transportation costs. Droughts, hurricanes and diseases like bird flu drove down production. Tariffs raised prices on foreign products like coffee, tomatoes and chocolate. Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine disrupted oil and fertilizer supplies.
9 replies
And the worst aspect of all this is that both ruling parties have seen this rampant price gouging and inflation of basic staples, rent, and energy and their response was to shrug their shoulders and do nothing. Democrats didn't do shit under Biden, and in fact, they tried to gaslight the public in the 2024 election, as if we don't do our own shopping and write our own checks.
Donald has spent more time decorating the White House than worrying if your family can eat.
If there is a socialist on the ballot in your district, vote for them.
Would be great if Donald would just be decorating. By his unpredictable tariffs and a planless war he adds fuel to the fire of inflation.
Agreed.
He knows his rule is going to be neutered after November, and that means he's going to go full crazy before then. He personally has nothing to lose and doesn't care about the downstream effects to anyone else, including his supporters and constituents.
My blood still boils when I think of Biden's messaging in 2024. Holy shit that was the worst time to ever identify myself as a leftist. Worst Democrat of my lifetime for sure.
Agreed.
My parents have driven for DoorDash in a car I lent them for the last three years. My dad drove for them up until three months before his death, at age 83. That something like this is necessary to stave off homelessness would prompt real reform if we lived in a country ruled by people with any semblance of a conscience, but clearly, that is just not the case.
If a couple dozen socialists can get elected in November though, maybe that can move the needle slightly. Many of them are working class people who actually understand the struggle of being an American worker, and that is sorely lacking in Washington.
Positively grim.
I wonder how much that is due to the usa president burning all possible bridges with trading partners.
And threatening them.
I mean the USA has lived off of the petro dollar for quite some time, and it smells like the end of free money from the rest of the world is starting to happen.
It's a solid point.
A year ago I was beating the drum about how new trade deals take 1-2 years in order to take effect, and after Donald's unilateral tariffs and 'Liberation Day', US economic policy was basically a time bomb. The coming years are going to be very hard on us and everyone else.
Worse even, as we held the USA in such high regards we'd "let them" do basically anything without repercussions because we wanted to be peaceful (and we became lazy). That time is never going to come back.
So, welcome to the normal world I guess!