Food prices continue to create difficult decisions for hungry Americans…
According to a NEWSMAX report, grocery bills and restaurant prices are costing Americans 11.3% of their paychecks, the highest amount in 33 years, data from the federal government shows.
That’s the highest since 1991 — during the first Bush Administration.
From NEWSMAX:
While the consumer price index has tamped down from a high of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3.1% last month, restaurant prices were still rising, by 5.1% last month from a year ago.
Last year, grocery prices continued to rise by 5%, and fast-food prices shot up 5.8%, according to CPI data.
“If you look historically after periods of inflation, there’s really no period you could point to where [food] prices go back down,” Steve Cahillane, chief executive of snack food giant Kellanova, tells The Wall Street Journal. “They tend to be sticky.”
Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi concurs, telling the New York Post: “In 2022 and 2023, it was boom times for restaurants, which gives them latitude to raise prices.”
Indeed, restaurants, fast-food chains, grocery stores, and food manufacturers are coping with high labor costs and expensive commodities, such as beef and cocoa.
In 2023, the cost for fats and oils rose 9%; the cost of sugar and sweets shot up by 8.7%; and cereals climbed 8.4%.
More over at The Wall Street Journal:
The last time Americans spent this much of their money on food, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” was in theaters and C+C Music Factory was rocking the Billboard charts https://t.co/sWtBnWTe2X https://t.co/sWtBnWTe2X
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 21, 2024
