Why Your Grocery Bills Are Going Up (And Are Only Expected to Get Bigger)

by | May 4, 2021 | Headline News | 7 comments

Do you LOVE America?

    Share

    This article was originally published by Hannah Cox at The Foundation for Economic Education. 

    It’s official: food inflation has arrived. Food prices soared 3.9 percent in 2020, the Department of Agriculture recently reported.

    Americans spent a lot of money on groceries over the past year—and it isn’t just because they were eating more meals at home. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices jumped 3.9 percent in 2020, nearly triple the rate of inflation.

    Unfortunately, this trend seems poised to continue. The US Department of Agriculture estimates grocery bills could increase by another 3 percent in 2021, while some experts are betting on even longer-term problems.

    “I think food prices are going to continue to increase for probably a good year, year, and a half,” warns Phil Lempert, founder of SupermarketGuru.com.

    Shoppers are already feeling the crunch. Long Island resident John Kermaj recently told NBC News, “We used to buy this stuff for $30. Now it’s $60.”

    Diet staples like wheat, corn, soybeans, and meat are among the products seeing the sharpest price uptick. Meat shot up 5.5 percent last year, and prices for fruits like apples, strawberries, and citrus went up by 11.3 percent.

    This is no small matter.

    Before the pandemic, the number of Americans experiencing food insecurity had been steadily falling. That trend was reversed last year. Northwestern University researchers estimate that food insecurity doubled during this time—placing 23 percent of households in danger of going hungry. It is likely this problem will only worsen as the cost of food continues to grow.

    So, what’s causing the spike? A perfect storm, really. Bad weatherstockpiling, increased demand from China, global shipping interruptions, and inflation caused by the extreme money printing by central banks all get honorable mentions. But a significant number of the factors to blame can be traced back to the government’s lockdowns and regulatory policies.

    Meat processing plants were one of the industries hardest hit by the lockdowns. Many were forced to close for extended periods of time, and others invested in expensive new equipment and technology to reduce their in-person workforce. These costs were of course ultimately borne by the consumer, and the closures led to supply chain disruptions. Both made the price of meat go up.

    Northwestern University researchers estimate that food insecurity doubled during this time—placing 23 percent of households in danger of going hungry.

    These closures not only affected the meatpacking plants and their employees but those of many related businesses in the food processing industry as well. The lockdowns also impacted farmers, shipment and distribution facilities, companies that produce the containers and plastic needed to store the meat, and grocers. In a market, one government action can have a ripple effect across hundreds of other industries, and that’s certainly what happened here.

    The coronavirus and lockdowns didn’t necessarily cause all of the problems in the meat industry, but they did exacerbate existing issues. The industry was already struggling under absurd government regulations that force farmers to waste good livestock and block them from selling directly to consumers. Combined with the lockdowns, these policies began to threaten our supply chain.

    Congressman Thomas Massie called attention to this problem more than a year ago and warned it could lead to a meat shortage. The Kentucky Republican urged Congress to support his PRIME Act to repeal these regulations, but his warnings went unheeded.

    Other producers in the agriculture sector have struggled to obtain the workers needed to ramp up production. Across the country, small businesses have been unable to attract Americans back to the workplace as many remain on increased unemployment benefits that pay more than work.

    Esteemed economist Thomas Sowell famously said, “There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” This principle has certainly been put on display during the pandemic, as the government made many trade-offs in its attempts to mitigate the crisis.

    There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.

    Ultimately, we know that many of their prescribed solutions—closing outdoor spaces, lockdowns, scrubbing surfaces with alcohol—were abject failures. But the trade-offs made in exchange for promises of increased security won’t be fading away anytime soon.

    The current food price spikes, and the resulting food instability issues they have fueled, are only the latest in a long line of consequences Americans have suffered as a result of the government’s attempts at solutions in 2020.

    Viruses are scary. But the surge in food insecurity is a reminder that all policies come with trade-offs—and that panic-fueled government interventions often only make a crisis worse.

    WATCH: Freedom vs. Fear: Which Side Are YOU On?

    URGENT ON GOLD… as in URGENT

    It Took 22 Years to Get to This Point

    Gold has been the right asset with which to save your funds in this millennium that began 23 years ago.

    Free Exclusive Report
    The inevitable Breakout – The two w’s

      Related Articles

      Comments

      Join the conversation!

      It’s 100% free and your personal information will never be sold or shared online.

      7 Comments

      1. A little off topic but,
        Recent headline:
        “GERMAN JUDGE AGREES
        PUTTING CHILDREN
        IN FACEMASKS IS
        DANGEROUS: HOUSE
        SUBSEQUENTLY
        RANSACKED BY POLICE”

      2. “Ultimately, we know that many of their prescribed solutions—closing outdoor spaces, lockdowns, scrubbing surfaces with alcohol—were abject failures.”

        At first, the (non) essential (bracero) laborers were squirting down the patio roof at the city park for (fake make) work.

        In a ‘how many (hombres) does it take’ kind-of joke, 10 or 12 replaced a couple of tar paper tiles on a small snackbar, at the local sports park.

        Last night, the concrete baseball dugouts had been jackhammered to pieces, the plunge was filled with dirt, and flat surfaces surrounding were spraypainted, for post-Apocalyptic effect.

        While my usual solution was to segregate my demographic replacements from once-valuable resources, they are now spent, in all honesty, and my replacements were nomadic, afterall. Mice pissed auto wrecking yards are being swept clean. For sale signs are going up. It is not in their nature to remain in lands, which they have wasted.

      3. That’s a new term…”food insecurity”. I was thinking that it’s the new woke term for hunger, but I guess not.

        Let’s see. “…food insecurity doubled during this time — placing 23 percent of households in danger of going hungry.” So they didn’t actually go hungry. They ALMOST went hungry. So mebbe it means they almost went hungry cuz Popeyes wuz outta chicken sammiches.

        BUT WAIT! They were saved when KFC was still open and they got a bucket. So they didn’t go hungry…it was just a temporary food insecurity. 23 percent of peeples did something like this to prevent going hungry. They actually ate and then no more food insecurity.

        What a meaningless statistic…

        • No hungry just lots of OBESITY.

        • The majority of Americans are either MORBIDLY OBESE or at least 25 pounds overweight.
          Parents and kids eat nothing but junk food and the only exercise they receive is going to/from the fridge and microwave,working their jaws,and when using their fingers to operate their precious electronic devices they are hopelessly dependent on.

      4. I wrote this: $200 Grocery Bill Soon to Be $12,000
        https://vidrebel.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/200-grocery-bill-soon-to-be-12000/

        The two obvious questions are: How soon? I would say by election day November 2024. That might make for interesting political campaigns if we still have a functioning government at that point. And secondly, does this have to be our future? No. We could change our government between now and then.

      5. I don’t experience food insecurity. I grow a lot of my own food, get food from the pantry. My cupboards are full.

      Commenting Policy:

      Some comments on this web site are automatically moderated through our Spam protection systems. Please be patient if your comment isn’t immediately available. We’re not trying to censor you, the system just wants to make sure you’re not a robot posting random spam.

      This website thrives because of its community. While we support lively debates and understand that people get excited, frustrated or angry at times, we ask that the conversation remain civil. Racism, to include any religious affiliation, will not be tolerated on this site, including the disparagement of people in the comments section.