Grocery stores prices rise as the wholesale cost of food rise. The price of eating out is another matter.
Don’t Worry, Were Stupid!
That seems to be the message of Democrats following a backlash over absurd price controls that Kamala Harris has sponsored.
The Hill comments Hill Dems try to tamp down backlash to Harris’ grocery price gouging pitch
Under pressure to defend Kamala Harris’ grocery price gouging plan, some Democratic lawmakers are delivering a quiet message to anxious allies: Don’t worry about the details. It’s never going to pass Congress.
The Harris campaign’s proposal, unveiled as part of her first big economic policy speech, has become a focal point for her presidential rival, Donald Trump, and fellow Republicans, who claim she’s pushing “communist price controls.” It has also alarmed food industry officials and even some left-of-center economists, who’ve warned such policies can hurt more than they help.
While much in Harris’ price gouging plan remains vague, a central piece is simply a call for Congress to pass the first-ever federal ban on price gouging in the food and grocery sectors, which largely mirrors legislation reintroduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earlier this year.
But such a bill has no chance of passing Congress anytime soon, even if Democrats win the White House and Congress this November, according to six Democratic lawmakers and five Democratic aides who were granted anonymity to discuss the matter candidly. These people said Democrats in Congress have privately been telling critics that this part of the Harris plan is not viable.
“I think people are reading too much into what has been put out there,” echoed Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a potential 2028 presidential contender, during an Aug.18 interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press. The proposal, Whitmer added, was intended to address the issue in “broad strokes.”
That backlash has tempered Harris allies’ initial push to paint the proposal as a bold, progressive idea. Since introducing the price gouging plan, her advisers have sought to soften criticism of the proposal by downplaying its overall impact on the market — and emphasizing that the goal is simply to target a small cohort of potential “bad actors,” rather than generate the kind of sweeping overhaul suggested by the plan’s initial rollout.
“She’s going to work with Congress to ensure that it is directed at bad actors, bad activity,” Nelson said. “It’s not meant to set prices or price levels or anything like that. And that is not the way current state laws around price gouging are.”
Pressed on the issue during a roundtable hosted by Bloomberg News, Nelson could not provide any specific examples of companies that are price gouging.
Instead of pointing fingers at grocery stores whose margins are razor thin and generally track producer prices, how about a discussion of prices at fast food restaurants?
February 4: Cost of Running a McDonalds Jumps $250,000 in CA Due to Minimum Wage Hikes
March 22: Senator Bernie Sanders Proposes a 32-Hour Workweek With No Loss in Pay
Match 26: California Restaurants Cut Jobs as Fast-Food Wages Set to Rise
June 24: Seattle Mandates $4.99 Fee on Uber Eats to Help Drivers, Deliveries Crash 45%
What About Energy?
The cost of electricity is rising everywhere thanks to inane energy policy.
For example, please note New York to Pay $155 Per Megawatt Hour for Wind, Current Rate is $36 Per MWH
It takes energy and fertilizer to grow crops. It takes truck to haul the goods. Harris is doing everything she can to make those prices rise.
The “Biden-Harris” administration (funny we don’t here that term much anymore) is responsible for massive amounts of inflation everywhere, but Harris points the finger at grocery stores, one of the least likely sources of inflation you can find.
Team Harris needs to look in the mirror to see one of the reasons prices are going up.
I am rooting for fast food prices to go so high that nobody can afford them. It might be the best chance the USA has to improve its collective waistline size. Lord knows we aren’t offering free healthcare for everyone like literally just about every single other developed economy in the world, so we’ve got to try something.
I propose raising fast food workers’ minimum wages to a level that kills off fast food forever. Everyone’s a winner in that game except for people with no self-control who are willing to eat garbage.
For restaurants, you have a choice. Generally 90% of restaurant food is BAD for you. Over buttered, oiled, salted and sugared-all at once. You might like it, but it’s BAD.
Grocery items, processed are also super expensive and BAD. A can of organic beans is like 5 bucks now. Bidenomics was an excuse to collude and raise price ceiling across the board. I buy all the basics and make my own beans, hummus etc. etc. Chicken broth is also super easy basic. Tell the food industry to stuff it-DO NOT BUY
What kind of beans do you make yourself? I’m assuming you have a large garden plot and time to harvest everything yourself?
During the New Deal many didn’t have enough to eat. The government decided to keep prices HIGH by slaughtering hogs and inaugurating price supports on agriculture. Nixon froze prices twice to combat inflation. why can’t politicians make up their mind?
I kind of feel like the grocery prices thing is another red herring to trick people as to where the blame really lies which boils down to the lobbying and campaign donation for deficit spending, stimulus, zirp, subsidizing of housing, bailing out of terrible business decisions, etc. Yes the Republicans rightfully call the grocery thing socialist and communist but they don’t go to the root of the problem stated above which they’re also guilty of. Doing QE for rate suppression and stimulus is socialist and communist central planning subsidation of RE and housing and the Republicans fully supported that and tellingly have not spoken against it.
The government needs to stop subsidising *everything* if they truly want prices to come down. The problem is the government is lying, and the *last* thing they want is stable pricing.
i think i determined the usa was all a bunch of grifter liars from school to gov to church and companies……..when i was a 14 year old pot head in 1974. i’m always surprised at the idiocracy level true believers………it warms my heart to see them. like special need fellas.
There are some higher end, if you will, grocery stores. They are more than likely paying for the rights to pick first. Many are boutique type with low inventory, quick turn, little storage required places. Located properly of course, as they would necessarily have to be.
Most are picking from close to the same basket, so their cost is relatively close, with the exceptions for certain stores like meat, homemade food, bulk etc.
Grocery stores are not the problem, and we’re actually the saviors during Covid IMHO! But I digress…
Now Restaurants (Fast Food) are sort of like grocery stores, in the sense that their clientele drives their prices, and of course the baskets quality too. They will ultimately sell what they can, at the lowest profitable Everyday Price. Gain Profit via specials, and bump up the price when you can, on economic news, upcoming food cost etc.
A great example is CA. Stupidly jumping to $20 PH as a minimum wage, and expecting fast food sellers to be able to accommodate that spike without major ramifications. Closures, layoffs etc. will soon follow or have already started.
As more lose jobs in this industry, fewer can afford to go out to eat. It truly is a self sustaining industry in many ways. When times are good especially, and as a rule they do very much help one another out. They do not handle Mandates well however, as they are more of a “Free Market” orientated Industry. Minimum wages, as one of many things, can really hurt them, but rarely help them, as they bank on Tips (industry loves Trumps “No Tip” Pledge!).
I guess we can assume too much money sloshing around, set the stage for inflation and high cost due to enough willing and able to pay the prices. That hurt the smaller income folks, but the pinch wasn’t felt by the industry yet. Working from home was a certain massive blow to the industry. Inner cities got hammered as they relied on these businesses for their business, and poof it was gone!
Such a mess, but mostly Government is to blame imo. Banks test faulty, and allowed to lend too much to blame. Inflation due to overspending and Printing to blame. Government interference in free markets, in various ways, to blame, etc.
People then borrowed too much, and spent too much, and charged too much, and then added kids insurances, college, weddings, etc. to the list!!!
brooklyn and queens boomed including the groceries and restaurants etc…….. as people didn’t need to take the trolley into manhattan offices.
Many are waiting for Kamala to give her Ideas in a unscripted Interview.
Kamala just like Joe has to now learn some scripted Ideas from their Handlers.
The stupider the Ideas that Kamala presents to supposedly lower everyday costs to consumers leaves one with the impression that her Handlers take most of the public for fools. Unless America goes into a serious depression it looks like Inflation is here to stay for years to come. The National Debt is expanding rapidly no matter which Party gets in.
most amerikans are fools. they are correct. see raygun to genocide joe…….
i just walked 3 miles round trip to our local food coop. local farmers…….i’d keep a cow and pig and chickens if i could find a good hand. in my hood of haitians and jamaicans and mexican campesinos, that would be quite simple………i’m too lazy for that
fun fact. rummy and the dick cheney ran the price control board for old tricky dick the criminal nixon. the repugs are as dumb as the dimwits.
The Republicans are just as socialist and communist as the Democrats. Notice how they never denounce dollar debasement deficit spending and never attempt to end the Fed. Why? because the Fed “monetizes” the debt which really means steals value from peoples dollar savings and labor
I should correct this, sorry, I forgot. Any honest work one does will always be fully compensated. Yes times can be more trying due to corruption and mismanagement, upheaval, persecution, but to endure humbly will be fully credited in the hereafter, where the reward is much greater and everlasting. Those that attempt to steal are only wronging their own souls. See all my posts as how we can change for the better.
Quit telling the truth, someone may be offended.
Why are you so scared of offending people? Is the government watching you that carefully?
I wish everyone would stop propagating this hokum. Grocery store profits are not “razor thin”. It’s like the stories about how underpaid the poor teachers and public workers all are!
Tell me how thin the profit margins are when a can of Progresso soup (maybe 5oz of vegetables and meat plus 13 oz of H2O and flavorings, which likely costs less than 35 cents to manufacture), sells for $2.49 in one store (local Grocery Outlet) and for $4.69 in another (Safeway)? Assuming the store selling that can of soup for $2.49 is making a profit, would you think that the store selling the SAME can of soup for $4.69 is making a “thin” profit? I’d say no.
Or take Outshine ice pop bars (flavored frozen water on a stick) as another example. I can regularly by a box of 6 for $3 at my local Smart and Final. But if I buy this product at Safeway, the usual price is $5.69 to $6.99, depending on the week!
I could produce an arm’s length of similar comparison examples.
that’s not food. that’s garbage and poison. eat real food. live better.
Ok why don’t you go into the soup-making business then and play that arbitrage?
You only forgot about the majority of the costs associated with making the soup…the plants to make it, the people to run the plants, the government regulations to abide by, the marketing costs, etc. Then there are the distributors (middle men) and the cost of paying for shelf space at the grocery store. Then the stores have their own costs to add to the item to fund their operations (which have to account for spoilage and “shrink”) and make a profit.
You don’t get to pick 2 items and claim that one store is gouging and the other isn’t. Maybe the store you think is charging a “fair price” is using the soup or ice pop bars as a loss leader. Ever heard of a loss leader, Krugman?
But those are manufacturing costs. D’oh.
My example was strictly between one retail outlet and another. The subject is profits at retail supermarkets. Try to pay attention.
Then the last half of my reply is still relevant. What say you?
Grocery stores do operate on small margins, if they wish to compete. It is by its very nature, a very fluctuating perishable inventory. As a result it must constantly be fed water, cold/frozen storage, temperature controlled display cases etc. The largest percentage of workers are older and younger, as a result they are always Dealing with labor issues, and can’t afford to pay a lot for those services. Unfortunately the inventory needs constant nurturing, and rotation, so they often lose inventory when they are in labor shortage situations. They also must pay overtime to get the job, that must get done, accomplished. Again hitting that ever fluctuating bottom line. A very tough industry with churn constantly.
A industry about as far from “Teaching” as you could possibly get. I see zero similarities and zero pay references that match up. The statement alone is ridiculous on its surface! I am not saying Unions are not an issue, as they most certainly are, and way too much money goes to them, that should be going to the Teachers and Students!! That’s an entirely different issue all together however.I don’t believe in Unions for Education! Pay based on the Schools success in teaching the Students, now that would certainly be something I would rush to get behind. So would my Family members that are teachers in the inner city. Disbanding all Unions and getting the Government out of our school systems, would also go over huge with the Teachers for sure, and the Parents even more so!!! IF “School Choice” was ever done on a massive scale, the Public School System would immediately collapse, as there would be very few students and even fewer teachers IMHO!
P.S. Profit Margins are based off of cost. Food cost fluctuate constantly, as does the (thin) profit margins as a result. Many times at a loss, if the food perishes too fast, wasn’t as fresh as you thought etc. So does Labor Cost and Turnover…
It is not. MOST of what is in supermarkets is packaged and good for years into the future.
The thin magin argument for food stores is akin to the the lack of profit that supposedly comes with film making. Yet thousands of films are made each year! Who knew?
I’ve not seen a thoughtful approach by either party. There is still plenty of room in America for a third party that really takes a better approach on nearly every issue.
Reporter: Kamala, why is peanut butter so expensive?
Kamala: The cost of peanuts is rising due to farmer greed and Big Butter is to blame for churning that deliciousness.
Completely unrealistic. Kamala’s response was waaaay to coherent and involved zero cackling, try harder.
Canadian grocers charge brand name companies to buy shelf space. Small companies rarely make it to the shelf because they can’t afford the upfront cost. Walmart in Canada has fewer Choice for most items. Collusion is so bad that the were forced to sign Canada grocery code of conduct.
Same in most grocery stores in the USA. But not for Costco.
so scary
Canadian Groocers have been price fixing for years. Their hands have been caught in the cookie jar regularly. Class Action suits have been paid out for price fixing. However they get away with price fixing and rarely get caught.
I saw a story when I was in Canada this summer about how the big grocers were lobbying the government not to allow Grocery Outlet to open more stores across the country. Prices are significantly lower and they have seen more demand in the last few years but evidently both province and federal government are in the pockets of big grocers.
Sitting in Canada I would say most the grocery stores including Walmart are gouging. 1lb hot dog or bacon package made by a brand name $9. Brand Name Peanut Butter 2lb jar $12. Loaf of Brand name Bread $5. If you want a Steak $18/lb or chicken $9/lb Record profits at all the Grocers. Same thing with Insurace gouging pricing is producing record high profits. Food Banks serving more families than ever. Numeros homeless in Big cities and small towns now have homeless encampments. Rents soaring to record hights 1 bedroom $1500. Average family monthly wage is $4K. There is a problem and it’s getting worse.
“There is a problem and it’s getting worse.”
The problem is “getting poorer.” It’s happening to every once-were wealthy Western country. Just like it did, and does, in Argentina. And Venezuela. And other such countries, which followed/follows the same policies that Western once-were-first-world countries now do.
It will NEVER be economically possible for society to not get poorer as a whole, when it’s “syyystem” is set up specifically to transfer a massive, and ever increasing, share of all wealth created both now and previously, to complete nothings in exchange for them sitting there on the couch looking reliably stupid while believing the fungi in their walls somehow makes their “home” create value as it sits there decaying. And ditto while they sit there making up ever more clueless fantasies for why picking random numbers somehow adds value thiiiiiz tiiiime. Or when they waste otherwise productive people’s time and resources by getting the junta’s jackboots to force them to play childish kangaroo courtroom dramas with reliably net-negative-in-all-possible-way simpletons who never did, never will, produce anything of any value whatsoever, yet are some supposed to be paid,of all things, for their purely value destroying obstructionism.
Flippantly, they spend their money into entrepreneurs who provide in Doritos, pizza, bandwidth, drugs and $3000 VR headsets to an $800 rental unit with 4 30 yr old dudes with no jobs.
There’s always a market, including those who think the wealthy are “special” too. 🙂
exactly old sport
The only reasonable way to bring prices down is through the supply side: increase competition and reduce wasteful regulations, thus encouraging and enabling producers to increase supply and/or cost-efficiency of production. That approach increases overall prosperity.
The alternatives – price controls or demand destruction – invariably result in reduced standards of living.
P.S. Anti-trust enforcement would really help. Prior to the 1990s, anti-trust law used to actually be enforced. Then a judge screwed it all up with an economically incorrect ruling about how many competitors a given market needs. 2-3 choices is not enough. The result was a lack of antitrust enforcement and excess industry consolidation. Now there is a long list of products, industries, even entire economic sectors that need to be reorganized to increase competition.
“Anti-trust enforcement would really help”
…those with the closest connection to the “anti-trust” enforcers. Who then get to come up with one trivially idiotic excuse for government to harass their more efficient competitor or another. No different from steel makers, chip makers, auto makers, AMA doctors….. All of whose coddling result in NOTHING other than higher prices, in order to support inefficient, uncompetitive can’t-dos. At US customers’, competent producers’ and tax payers’ expense.
No, there is a simple principal that for a free market to operate, you need competitors, and there is a point when one single company operating as a monopoly controls a free market (ie, not a free market). Don’t give a damn if they are more efficient, they are destroying the free market.
“Don’t give a damn if they are more efficient,..”
Why would people deal with them, if more efficient, hence cheaper, producers of the exact same thing exists? UNLESS the latter is somehow restricted from competing and/or endrunning around the current “monopolist.”
The one and only solution to ALL possible “monopolies”, assuming they are troublesome, is getting rid of laws and restrictions. Not at all, to be adding more of them.
Seriously: Who do you think is most likely to be handed the option to influence how those “laws” are written and interpreted: The rich, connected New York executive benefiting from higher prices? Or some homeless guy who would rather spend less come what may, even if it meant buying form the cheapest child slave labor provider in North Korea?
Just get rid of ANY restrictions, and you have no monopolies. Absolutely guaranteed, Always and everywhere. While conversely: As soon as you have any restrictions: Some WILL benefit more from them than others. And those disproportionate beneficiaries WILL then spend at least some of those gains, on maintaining, and further expanding, the restrictions they benefit assymetrically from. Again: Always.And.Everywhere.
bingo old sport. again.
Actual enforcement is what I’m talking about. I agree that the current corrupt system isn’t working and hasn’t for about 30 years. But they broke up Standard Oil, they broke up the phone monopoly, there are plenty of historical precedents for successful antitrust action.
The biggest antitrust enforcement of all has to be by the people against the government’s own monopolies, though.
The bigger corporations get bigger and make bigger profits, at the same time the small business get crushed and eventually pushed out of buisness. Small Grocers are a thing of the past that were actually a member of the community.
poppycock. i shop in many local small grocers. i walk to them, too.
poppy cock
“….and reduce wasteful regulations”
Yess!
And remembering the most wasteful of them all, are the ones preventing anyone anywhere at any time, from BUILDING and setting up shop absolutely anywhere, with exactly zero ability of some “regulator” on WalMart’s lobby payroll to hold up any budding competitor’s ability to both build whatever, and engage in any sort of business whatsoever, for any reason whatsoever.
I saw a mini documentary on how the closure of fertilizer plants around the country have spiked the price of that commodity. So in Iowa, they used a very large amount of public money (~$500M or more) to build a new state of the art plant. Now, the Koch brothers are trying to buy it to add to their already substantial market share.
And, let’s not forget what 12.5M+ new mouths to been in the US over the last 3.5 years has done to food inflation.
Price controls & rationing are Harris’ solutions. The lady’s ideas are borderline criminal.
Nothing new, ShitHeadz like FDR spewed the same rhetoric nearly 100 years ago…Blamed the “evil Profiteers!”
50% discount/rebate policy at retail sale doubles both everyone’s purchasing power and hence demand for every enterprise’s goods and services, mathematically and macro-economically ends inflation by implementing beneficial price and asset deflation and doesn’t cost the merchant a single penny of additional cost. Its the liberatarian’s wet dream scenario. Only problem? They can’t think their way outside of a wet paper bag due to orthodoxy. Pitiful.
Democrats are also probably too conflicted to see this paradigm changing monetary and economic policy. Doubly pitiful.
Guys, don’t feed this troll.
It’s scary this was put out as an idea.
Causality in the food chain… However, watching prices at the nation’s food behemoth, Walmart, there were interesting movements during COVID, and in the aftermath. I suspect some of it has to do with the amount of processing, and handling from source to consumer. Eg. Cereals about doubled very quickly and have not come down, Most fruit and veg went up quickly (along with shortages), and came down somewhat–still higher than the pre-COVID price. Eggs bounced up and broke the bank–but that was the result of chicken slaughter. Meat followed the trajectory of fruit and veg…
My conclusion, the greater the competition, the faster the prices resumed ‘normal.’
“Eggs bounced up and broke the bank–but that was the result of chicken slaughter.”
This is monopoly excuses. Production went down, their overhead went down, prices doubled, and PROFITS were up 700%. Meat too.
Agree with your last sentence, but the government must break up the monopolies and stop M&A to have competition again.
You seem an expert on this matter. When will your egg production plant be up & running, so that I can buy your eggs, instead of from those mean ol’ profiteers? This price-gouging is just begging for competition, and you are more than up to the task. Go YP.
That’s the point. Between monopolies writing laws to stop competition to the fact that monopolies control the market (contracts to retailers), there is a HUGE barrier to a start-up, unless you’re a local farmer, but still, Walmart, Kroger, and the big chains still have contracts with the monopoly that make selling into the retailers difficult.
When a farmer reports the flu outbreak, he/she gets a visit from USDA. Shortly, a team arrives to slaughter the entire flock.
and the small guys go under, but the monopoly simply charges double, and make 7 times the profits.
Not exactly a free market…
Go to Costco. 24 extra large for $4.99 here in the SF Bay Area.
Just one example of supply changes, April 2024.
“…As of April 24, a dozen large grade A eggs cost an average of $2.99, up nearly 16% from $2.52 in January, according to federal labor data. The price increase comes as nearly 9 million chickens across Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Texas have been discovered to be infected with bird flu in recent weeks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That is crimping egg supplies, leading to higher prices…”
As anybody who has shopped groceries in Europe knows, there is a problem with grocery prices in the US. Not only are US prices much higher, but food quality is lower than in Europe. The most likely candidate for explaining high US food prices paired with low quality is lack of competition in the food industry, including protectionist US food import policies.
Exactly this… and no one wants to talk about THAT monopoly issue because of “free market” or because they buy off politicians, and put out commercials and political discourse blaming the grocery stores since that is all the consumer looks at.
Food prices in Canada are much higher than the U.S.. I’ve always thought Americans had access to cheap food compared to Canadians.
I thought food generally was comparable, but when I went to Toronto for vacation, the restaurants were absurdly expensive!
This has really accelerated in the last 20 or so years. Wasn’t always as bad as it is now.
Also Toronto is an incredibly expensive city. So unless you are coming from one of the top 4-5 expensive cities in the US it’s going to seem like an even bigger shock.
montreal is much more affordable than most usa cities.
toronto might as well be in usa
In international comparisons of food price indices, Canada is significantly cheaper than the US. My personal experience is that it’s about the same in Ontario.
Wait until global swarming unfreezes Canada all year long. It will a great farm country!
A gallon of Whole Milk in Houston TX currently – $3.61
A dozen “Grade A, Large” Eggs (not any special organic) – $3.24
New York Strip Steak (USDA Prime) – $16.63 per lb.
I’d be interested with the prices in Europe and Canada for the same. As well as anyone else in the US!
amerika has the lowest percentage of small business ownership. greece and italia the highest. in the rich world. in poor places nobody has an employer.
The vast majority of US states, especially deep red states, have price gouging laws on the books. Do these laws matter? No. As Neil Gorsuch noted recently, there are literally 50,000 laws on the books forbidding things that nobody is aware of. Why MAGA calls price gouging laws suddenly a Communist practice when “their” states from West Virginia to Texas think they need to have them on the books is not a mystery. Trump is desperate.
“Trump is desperate.”
Harris is desperate to buy votes of those suffering under Biden-Harris higher prices.
Let’s see whether MAGA states abolish their price gouging laws. On Trump, if your freedom after November 5th would depend on winning the election, you would also be desperate given where the polls are.
It’s too bad Harris didn’t take a community college economics course.
She would not have broached the price control proposal.
Why do we have lame people in government? Because really capable people could not be bothered. That’s a shame. At one time politicians used to be respected. We had real men (those days) who were politicians but now we have politicians trying to be real men.
Remember, Harris is a DEI hire. Without her checking certain boxes, she would have never gotten to where she is right now.
Moronic Biden blurted out in a televised 2020 debate that he was going to choose a black female vice-president and the dems couldn’t walk that back without offending the sacred cow black folks. If not for Biden’s flippant ad lib, we wouldn’t have candidate Kamala.
or she could use the laws of the land and enforce Anti-trust and rein in the big monopolistic corporations from gouging and the allow the free market to prevail.
Why? Because the ones that get candidacy and elected are the ones that agree to trade the stability and prosperity of the country for campaign contributions and lobbying money. We gotta educate the average citizen in what’s going on so they only elect reps that work to get the money out of politics, to save the country.
Idiotic policy from…an idiot.
Absurd pandemic policies. In fact, the lockdowns and firings and lines to receive experimental transfection reagent injections from poorly trained cosmeticians, fast food workers, welfare moms, etc., will go down as the biggest travesty in this country’s, and the world’s history. It clearly illustrates that people who rise to leadership positions in organizations (Fauci) are not necessairly competent. They are either skilled at career maneuvering or at winning popularity contests.
The stimulative money-from-heaven bills voted on by an incompetent Congress and signed by both Operation Warp Speed Trump and Angry Curmudgeon Biden are the problem.
Can we generalize this to ‘name one genius working for the US government?’
So Kamala wants price controls to lower the price of things that her economic policies created. On top of that we have to feed an additional 10 million people that Border Tzar Kamala invited into our country. It’s simple economics Kamala. Supply and demand.
But, but, but we need the 10 million people to pick the crops
Simple way to reduce food and other inflation. Rescind most of the legislation, new taxes, regulations, programs etc. from the past 60 years. I think prices were lower in relation to salaries in 1964. Certainly govt. borrowing and inflation was.
Even with all that, it will not happen at all because it would simply translate into higher profits, not lower prices at the retail level.
A downvote? Really? Show me a company that would voluntarily give away profits in the form of decreasing prices because their tax/regulation costs went down (except for Arizona Iced Tea)
(crickets)
Companies faced with price competition “volunatarily give away profits in the form of decreasing prices” literally every day.
That’s not at all what we’re talking about. They drop prices to liquidate inventory and free their cash flow. Dropping taxes/regulation across the board would simply lead to increased profit as no one would need to drop their prices.
I think if you give this a little more thought you’ll see things a bit differently.
Two very obvious examples are airlines and telecommunications companies after deregulation led to increased competition in the 1980s.
Uber and Lyft are another good case study, driving down prices for taxi services (at least initially).
Other B-school case studies abound.
I am also quite confident that if taxes on gasoline were reduced, retail gas prices would drop nearly exactly that amount within days.
Higher profits would be temporary at best, as this would attract competition.
Not when you’re a monopoly / collusion
Except in the large fraction of industries which have bought-and-paid-for government officials to write laws and regulations that make it ridiculously difficult for competition to exist…
Consider, for instance, the “kill zones” around most of the major tech titans…
Heck, the Democratic Party itself is basically engaged in trying to kill off competition from any party that threatens its various monopolies on power…
“Attract competition” – yes, unless there are regulations (by the Feds) that pretty much prevent easy free-market access for newcomers and small business folks. Didn’t you know that the Feds have some super-smart people making rules, but who have never run a business themselves, which would put their OWN money at risk.
Yooper is only right for the sectors that do not have adequate competition. But that’s a distressingly large fraction of the economy.
A major chance since the 1960s is antitrust enforcement, see my comment on that above.
Totally agree it’s not a carte blanche argument across the whole economy (though we do have tech, banks, energy 🙂
RFK made several good points while impaling democraps. Perhaps the most important one is our food is killing us.
Our supermarkets are stuffed with unhealthy processed foods. The lazier we are, the more we buy prepared foods. And the more processed a food, the higher the price. Limiting SNAP to unprocessed foods would be a great start.
RFK doesn’t go to the roots of the problem. He doesn’t say he will end campaign finance and make big spending cuts and end the govt stealing from savers and laborers through debasement. That’s a tell that he’s part of the swamp just like trump and the rest of the Republicans and Democrats
But you’re right, health is a good subject to discuss. Many loved ones sadly missed from passing too soon due to unhealthy diet. But physical health is just a part. Spiritual health is most important and there are some struggling with health issues but full in spirit and heart of gold. And others healthy in body but lost in the world, unappreciative and unkind.
YEA! Anarchy!
Convention of opposite world, you vote for Trump , He’s a dictator, but we the wonderful party of fairness and democracy, We will tell You ,What you can Charge for items that you are selling to the American people! Who’s the party of a dictator ?
No one will be a dictator
amerika is not immune from anything including dictators. we are humdrum crumbling empire of war mongers and grifters………the history books littered with them……..from romans to ussr……..
Is The Donald in the room with you right now? Show me where on this doll he hurt you.
Price gouging in the grocery business is almost impossible when Walmart is your biggest competitor. They are a beast when it comes to beating up vendors over pricing. Competitors are forced to follow suit. As a result, grocery prices are much lower than they would be without Walmart.
Walmart has it covered Kamala. Stick to gender affirming castrations and leave grocery pricing in Walmart’s hands.
Forgot Aldi. Shopped there this morning (in Berlin)
It’s price gouging in the giant commodity monopolies that’s the real problem in groceries, and not the retail stores themselves.
…and I would add Walmart in there as a monopoly.
Walmart was the retailer that reduced prices as supply chains came back to life. Credit where credit is due. However, NEVER buy peaches from Walmart. Cardboard tastes better 🙂
Stores have to be near a Walmart to matter. The closest Walmart to me is about 35 miles south.
That being said, when I am down that way, I sometimes stop in to see the prices and they aren’t that much lower, if at all, than the general area. And of course, you have the lower quality issue for Walmart fresh produce and meats against the local higher end stores.
walmarts customers cut their own throats. i always shopped locally owned shopkeepers including small family grocers. the greedy idiots cut their own throats. that is ancient wisdom which was true for the boomer generation buying chinese crap from a greedy family………..that hollowed out downtowns
Of all the problems we have she singles this out. As others have pointed out it is government (or those that they turned over the power to most likely so they could blam others) that causes inflation.
How will she fix that?
Not that I have confidence in Price Controls, I do think there are other questions that I don’t particularly understand, based on Mish’s narrative. If prices for food and energy went up because the “US printed too much money!”, thus creating demand that supply couldn’t meet, then, why don’t the prices go back down?
I don’t blame the grocery stores of course, as they sell the items they purchase for a small profit margin. But, many items they purchase are imported (a lot of produce, meat and fish products).
Did it become 40 percent more expensive to have a cow eating in a field in Argentina? Did the “money printing” in the US push the cost of a shrimp farm in Ecuador up 40 percent? Avocados from Mexico?
Lumber prices are about the same as they were in 2018.
Wheat prices are up around 10 percent from where they were in 2018.
Soybeans down around 10 percent from where they were in 2018.
All of the above data from Macro Trends.
As far as energy prices go, the price of oil was roughly in the low 70’s during the bulk of the trump admin until the pandemic. Now it is in the mid 70’s after spiking, so, not really much difference. Natural Gas prices are lower today than they were during the Trump era. Electricity generated by Solar Panels has declined forever.
So, if the inflation was all caused by too much largess from the US government during the pandemic when it put money directly into peoples pockets, why haven’t the prices come down to reflect the input prices, which have come back down? And, beyond that, is the only solution to have it where the poorest people can’t afford food, thus reducing demand and finally bringing prices down?
Simply because corporations won’t allow it at the origination level (basic commodities).
Take global shipping. Shipping prices skyrocketed with no corresponding increase in costs because the corporate monopolies fed off the demand and their market control. M&A should stop, and we should start dismantling monopolies to encourage competition again.
…and put the US first – even if it goes against corporate profits
Prices won’t go down because everyone’s wages went up, if they still have a job. S the costs of manufacturing, transportation. and services, and regulation have been permanently raised. And personal need will keep forcing wage inflation further.
So, if everyone’s wages went up, then why does inflation hurt anyone? Obviously, anyone that has assets (homes, stocks), has had their wealth inflated (average price of a home has gone up close to 50 percent since the beginning of the pandemic, and S and P 500 is up around 75 percent during the same time frame). In roughly 4/5 years approx, anyone with “assets” has seen their wealth go up somewhere between 50 to 75 percent, while prices have climbed around 25 to 30 percent. If peoples wages and wealth is going up more than prices, why should anyone be unhappy? Now, for those on a fixed income,…, that’s another story!
Um, because not all wages go up, and at the bottom of the wage structure a 10% hike, isn’t enough to cover the cost of food, rent, transport etc.
A couple of things here that Mish has alluded to for months
1) Not everyone has inflated assets (homes/stocks etc). Those that don’t are really hurting bad from this inflation that has made things more expensive while there wages maybe kept up but likely didn’t. So non-asset holders which is probably at least a 1/3 to a 1/2 of the population isn’t happy.
2) Even among asset holders things aren’t always rosy. Just because your home (or 401k) doubled doesn’t help you pay for groceries or insurance today. You only unlock that gain when you sell the house (or draw down the 401k) but in the meantime you have to put food on the table today. This is why there are endless ads popping up for reverse mortgages and HELOCs etc for people to unlock cash in their homes today which will make them even worse off tomorrow.
That is a logical answer. Now, if none of Bidens trillions of dollars were spent (not to mention the 8 trillion spend during the 4 years of Trump), would unemployment have gone down to below 4 percent for three years? Would more businesses have gone away, from 2021 to present?
Yes more would have gone away. But at the same time lots more new ones would have been created too.
Without an alternate timeline no one knows the exact answer.
The real obvious mistake was extending the lock down past the initial 2 weeks in early 2020 (remember that). By then we knew Covid was not the Black Plague or Spanish Flu and that instead of 10 or 20 or 40% of the population dying it was going to be 1/10 or 1% (old and/or obese) so everything should have reopened.
I think that is easy to say in hindsight. I think in the first 9 months of Covid (March 2020 until end of that year), as the waves happened, no one really knew if the next wave would not be a worse variant. A lot of people were dying that year, and the future wasn’t known, so, erring on the side of caution can not be considered so unreasonable, in my opinion.
If people or the government (be it local or national), wanted to err on the side of caution and not be in crowded places, I consider it completely rational. I’m sure that if something like that happens again any time soon, there will be way too many people that think it’s BS and the outcome will be even worse.
They’ll fix it just like they fixed the Insurance gouging… Oh wait…
I know this goes 100% against the common thought here, but something does need to be done about the monopolies and trade policies. Two for note:
1) just in eggs for example, prices go up for supermarkets and consumers by 100%, PROFITS for the egg manufacturers go up 700%? Bacon and meats were not too far off either. The lack of competition or collusion allows them to drop production (and associated costs), while jacking up the prices?
2) I’m in western PA with one of the world’s largest Nat Gas reserves, and there is a monumental push for LNG to sell overseas, but we’re told our utilities and gas are going up some 30% again?!?
I mean seriously…
Easy solution. You can produce eggs and sell it with only 300% of profits. You will get 100% of the market share and become very rich
I am 47 years in the food industry.
You hit the nail on the head when you touched on monopolies and default collusion.
i spent a summer in college working for a food broker in NYC area…….took me about a week to figure out the game. bribe the manager with free tickets to sports and entertainment for shelf space for our customers products. the rest is just eyewash. it’s amerika. we make a buck on poison food and homelessnes……..and of course arms dealing. amerika is a crumbling empire of greedy nit wits and thugs. the gambinos in he 60s and 70s had more honesty then the typical boomer idiot today.
Eggs are a unique demand-supply issue, with producers losing many birds from Bird Flu. If you’re right, the big AG profits would send the stock prices to new highs.
BTW, Pork prices fared better than beef prices. WHY?
STOP killing the chickens due to bird flu. It hasn’t stopped the sickness from appearing year after year anyways and it only cause the price of eggs and chicken to rise.
All brought to you by Biden, Harris and the rest of the democrats.
LongHorn and Olive Garden are busy. Boomers are moving in with a walker. After paying the bill plus 18% tip they reach the downslope disable’s ramp hurdle. Fettucine Alfredo and schnitzel stimulate the brains.
Still think you are immortal?
“Time waits for no one, no not even you”
A classic example of how dishonesty and falsehood from “liberal” politicians can hurt the poor. There are complaints about ‘food deserts’ in major cities in part due to shoplifting. looting and vandalism. Why slander them as gougers and make the problem worse?
Dems lose their shit over the idea that Trump will sign a nationwide ban on abortion. It would never pass Congress and he’s said repeatedly that he wouldn’t sign it. Then they turn around and say “don’t worry – her ideas won’t pass”. The problem is she is full of dumb ideas and California inclinations. That’s what you get from someone who’s never worked in private industry and spent her life in California government. It’s also what you get from someone with no progeny. She’d make a perfect Europeon politician, overseeing decline and takeover by a foreign culture.
He should sign it. America had over 1 million abortions last year. Murder is what it really is.
There’ll be nothing to sign or not sign.
I agree that abortion is out of control, but constitutionally, it’s not a Federal issue. The Supreme Court got this one right.
The right to abortion SHOULD be a Federal issue. ALL citizens in the country should have the same and equal rights.
Also, states should be abolished.
If there were a legitimate Right to Abortion, there wouldn’t be so much disagreement about where to draw the line.
That’s precisely why it’s a state issue, different communities legitimately feel very differently about it.
Are you new to the world and the internet? Did you just fall off the turnip truck? Or out of a coconut tree?
EVERYBODY feels different about everything! Someone’s “feelings” aren’t what laws are based on.
AGAIN, EVERYONE in the USA should have the same rights, regardless of where they happen to reside.
This applies to abortion and every other important right.
Individual states with differing laws are an archaic construct and it is time that they were eliminated.
Except you are conflating abortion as an enumerated right. The Constitution is clear, that we are a republic of states and that anything not specifically classified as federal in the document falls to the states or the People.
You may call it archaic but it was the document and founding prinicples that allowed this nation to ever be formed. To ignore the construct of States and People would have ensured the USA remain unformed.
The Supreme Court got the outcome right and to pretend that one could not travel to get an abortion is wrong and for those that think we could have an outright ban or an full on-allowance, which we had prior to the decision, is to ignore the recent ruling.
Sometimes one must cling to archaic principles because it’s those principles that allow for existence, by definition. If you desire full on complacent acceptance there are nations one earth where no dissension is allowed, always enjoyed by those making the rules and frustrating those under said rules. Sure, there seems times that the concept brings inconsistencies or inefficiencies but if removing them brings down the house, well, I think the Founders got it right.
This is why we need a Constitutional Convention to toss & rewrite this archaic document from the ground up.
Unfortunately, I would have to wager that they would keep the same BS Federalist approach.
I stand with my statement made above that:
“AGAIN, EVERYONE in the USA should have the same rights, regardless of where they happen to reside.”
Hopefully, logic will prevail when AI’s take over and then summarily abolish our Constitution and the concept of individual states. I hope they also abolish nations, eliminate borders and implement one world government/one world police/military force.
The chart is highly correlated to latent anger in the nation and politically the temperature has been turned up further in an election year where we have soft coups and lawfaring. Inflation creates massive uncertainty for the future and the amount they’ve created/we’ve endured over the last 3 years in all areas that matter is so far north of the official figures those official figures (aka presidents/representatives/fed banksters) oughta start taking the temperature of Americans because deep down I think we’ve reached a latent boiling point. They think by enriching large swaths of the population via asset prices that we will be just fine with this much inflation. We’ll see. I still think we’re headed for a much-desired splitting. And with so many folks retiring or, like me, forced into retirement, fixed income pressures are large.
Glad Mish touched on electricity because my electric bill, granted it’s a REA cooperative whose rural roots and cost structure are straight outta the 30’s, is 40-50% higher than it was just a few years ago with “demand pricing”, add-ons, fees, etc. It’s becoming VERY difficult as a household manager, to control the budget via personal austerity and careful choices; there’s nearly no escape. When one’s personal choices cannot lead to positive outcomes the angst and frustration become real.
Papa Dave can say to buy oil/energy stocks to blunt the effect and ’tis true but most of the stuff happening is destruction of our own making and many don’t have enough resources to do so.
I don’t want 4 more years of what I see contained within that box any more than I want the influx of illegal immigration as seen on offical charts within a similar “last 4 years” box.
I go to Reddit a very left site and social media site . The bitterness and feelings of hopelessness for young folks is off the charts with many screaming for socialism and or Marxism. Many want equity as in a burger flipper gets paid the same as a concrete finisher ( example ) . They want a living wage for an unskilled job. These are the folks that are voting now . In 20 years the boomers are just about off the map . This country if it still exists will experience drastic changes imho. I kind of sense a revolution on the horizon with the have nots battling it out with the haves .
The more you read….! Price gouging and “greedy corporations” are straight out of Communism. Read the book, The Communist by Paul Kengor, PhD. He describes how for decades, the Communists have targeted Americans, blacks primarily, then let them down on purpose.
Communists control the language, the narrative by corrupting words. Gay, joy, change, hope, forward, for example. Obama and many in his Administration were influenced and mentored by Frank Marshall Davis, outlined in this book. Davis was a self-avowed communist, but the other trick communists use is to downplay what they are by lying.
Electricity prices, gas prices will continue to rise, especially in blue states, as this fake climate “crisis” narrative of the WEF, UN, continue to be pushed by ‘useful idiots’ of the left. California a perfect example because both Newsom and Harris, yes, Kamala – colluded to hike pricing. Both are foreign agents. Books that proves that? Peter Schweizer’s Blood Money and Profiles In Corruption.
Unless Trump-Vance win, it IS over for our wallets and much more. Kamala has trillions of tax hikes pending. Americans for Tax Freedom’s web site has more. The worst will be taxes on unearned gains. Your home increases value? Sorry – taxes are due NOW – in cash. Pay up.
Tax and spend ! As my pop would scream out at the TV .
You forgot the leftist classic, ‘dreamers.’
In the next decade the boomer’s leftover will approach 90. Food away from home will
switch to “Survival Mode”. Gen alpha and the zoomers are more sophisticated than the boomers. If they exercise, add vitamin B’s, C and omega 3… highly skilled engineers will protect their brains, keep them sharp and feed their gut. Highly skilled workers will be able to buy houses and cars at deflated prices. Brain fog workers will change employment.
Your math skills are lacking. Peak Boomer is about 1957, they are 67 now, in a decade they will be 77. Life expectancy is 83.
My brother is one of the youngest boomers and he isn’t even to early retirement yet. 1964 plus 83 is 2047, so he has an even money chance making it that far, so statistically he has more than twenty years to live.
Boomers age range : between 60Y and 78Y, u got F in math !
Your silicon melted.
Are we on the same planet? IT is true there is weight gain by age, but NOT for the reasons you give. There are many more factors involved.
You might check this source for reference:
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/php/data-research/adult-obesity-prevalence-maps.html#cdc_data_surveillance_section_3-by-education-level-and-age
i concur. boomers the dumbest in all of pax dumbphuckistan. by a mile.
This quote is amusing…”Don’t worry about the details. It’s never going to pass Congress.“
It is almost the complete opposite of the infamous Nancy Pelosi quote…
“We have to pass the bill to see what’s in it”
Who are Harris’ advisors here? Are they a bunch of millennials with Harvard (read:useless) degrees, or are they actual economists who should know better? They should have never made the proposal if they didn’t think it had a snowball’s chance. Why aren’t the Republicans jumping all over the “flip flop” – or has Harris not rescinded the promise?
Most agriculture futures are way off their highs; energy costs are not super high either. So what is keeping food prices high? Is it all/mostly labor?
Greed.
Ralph Wiggum for President! Stirring campaign, “I electioning!” Free crayons and paste for everyone, hunger crisis and food inflation solved.
You can erase this after you read it, Mish:
Were Stupid! >>>>>”WERE” should be “WE’RE.” ….and:
(funny we don’t here,) >>>> “HERE” should be “HEAR.”
I also have issues with spell check when I dictate emails and letters using my Mic.
These typos ARE distracting from your good work.
P.T.Barnum said it right, there is a sucker born every minute.
“There’s a moron born every second” Fast Eddy
Yeah, but you’re not supposed to elect her president.
W THE DUMBER BROKE THAT RULE
You forgot pharmaceuticals