Why Are Grocery Prices So High?

High grocery prices haven’t been caused by corporate greed but by big government spending and easy money policies.

SOURCES:

In a recent episode of 60 Minutes, host Lesley Stahl and FTC Chair Lina Khan blamed high grocery price on “greedflation.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ftc-chair-lina-khan-60-minutes-transcript/

Khan was chosen by President Biden to lead the Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/06/lina-m-khan-sworn-chair-ftc

In 2023, the average grocery store profit margin was 1.6%: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/grocery-industry-profit-margins-fall-to-pre-pandemic-levels-fmi/720517/

The wholesale food prices paid by supermarkets have risen by more than the retail food prices paid by consumers during the Biden/Harris administration. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1vgXO

A 2024 study by 3 Ph.D. economists at the San Francisco Fed found that “price markups for goods and services” have “not been a main driver” of inflation since Biden & Harris took office. https://www.frbsf.org/research-and-insights/publications/economic-letter/2024/05/are-markups-driving-ups-and-downs-of-inflation/

Instead, the study found that the root causes of inflation are “large” federal “fiscal transfers” like “increased unemployment benefits” and Federal Reserve policies like lowering “the federal funds rate target to essentially zero.” https://www.frbsf.org/research-and-insights/publications/economic-letter/2024/05/are-markups-driving-ups-and-downs-of-inflation/

Government spending grew dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic. https://www.justfacts.com/nationaldebt#causes

The Federal Reserve enacted easy money policies during the Covid-19 pandemic. https://www.justfacts.com/monetarypolicy#quantitative_actions

Biden, Harris, and nearly all Congressional Democrats supported and enacted those policies:
https://www.justfactsdaily.com/the-inflation-reduction-act-will-do-almost-nothing-that-manchin-says-it-will#inflation
https://about.bgov.com/news/mmt-makes-democrats-curious-amid-debate-on-health-care-climate/

Trump and many Congressional Republicans also played a role in that spending.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748/actions
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1162/vote_116_2_00080.htm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00080
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/56334

Democrats voted for far more spending than Republicans.
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1171/vote_117_1_00110.htm?congress=117&session=1&vote=00110
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2021-02/Estimated_Budget_Effects_of_the_American_Rescue_Plan_Act_of_2021_0.pdf

The lockdowns that led to the spending were pushed with misinformation from the left and were stricter and longer in Democrat states.
https://www.justfacts.com/news_covid-19_essential_facts#overreactions
https://www.justfacts.com/news_covid-19_essential_facts#rates
https://www.justfactsdaily.com/the-hard-facts-on-covid-19-science-denial
https://web.archive.org/web/20210221043310/https:/www.multistate.us/research/covid/reopening

The nefarious propaganda technique of projection and quotes from social scientist Roger Mucchielli. https://www.justfactsdaily.com/how-to-thwart-the-nefarious-propaganda-technique-of-projection

Footage from CBS News is reproduced under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law for “purposes such as criticism” and “comment” (17 U.S.C. §107). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107