According to a Wall Street Journal report, inflation continues to keep costs of everyday food items high — so high, in fact, that the last time Americans spent this much of their money on food, George H. W. Bush was the President of the United States.
“If you look historically after periods of inflation, there’s really no period you could point to where [food] prices go back down,” said Steve Cahillane, chief executive of snack giant Kellanova, in an interview. “They tend to be sticky.”
From WSJ:
Eating continues to cost more, even as overall inflation has eased from the blistering pace consumers endured throughout much of 2022 and 2023. Prices at restaurants and other eateries were up 5.1% last month compared with January 2023, while grocery costs increased 1.2% during the same period, Labor Department data show.
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In 1991, U.S. consumers spent 11.4% of their disposable personal income on food, according to data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. At the time, households were still dealing with steep food-price increases following an inflationary period during the 1970s.
More than three decades later, food spending has reattained that level, USDA data shows. In 2022, consumers spent 11.3% of their disposable income on food, according to the most recent USDA data available.
Food inflation has raised the ire of President Biden, who took to Instagram during the Super Bowl to blast food makers that he said were providing less bang for consumers’ buck—putting fewer chips in each bag or shrinking the size of ice-cream containers.
“The American public is tired of being played for suckers,” Biden said. “I’ve had enough of what they call shrinkflation. It’s a rip-off.”
But food companies are also feeling the crunch. While commodities such as corn, wheat, coffee beans and chicken have gotten cheaper, prices for sugar, beef and french fries are still high or rising.
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
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