Commentary | Blame Washington, Not Grocery Stores, for Food Prices – By EJ Antoni (The Heritage Foundation) / March 1, 2024
- The White House has repeatedly called for grocery stores to lower prices—as if a business owner sets prices arbitrarily.
- If the cost to replace inventory rises, then the money earned by the business doesn’t go as far as it used to. The same amount of money buys less.
- As the government spends, borrows and prints money, it devalues the currency, so your dollars don’t go as far as they used to.
If you’re struggling to pay for groceries, you’re not alone. Staples like bread, lunch meats, dairy products and eggs have seen price increases of 20% to 40% in the last three years. President Joe Biden is blaming grocery stores for “gouging” consumers, but there’s just one problem with that explanation: His administration’s own data disprove it.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices paid by business and consumers alike have increased 18% on average since Biden took office. The higher prices that American families face today are simply the higher cost of doing business being passed along to the consumer.
Despite this fact, the White House has repeatedly called for grocery stores to lower prices—as if a business owner sets prices arbitrarily. In a recent commercial, Biden also highlighted the phenomenon of “shrinkflation,” where products get smaller, but the price remains the same. The president again called on companies to stop the practice, as if it could be done by executive fiat.
