Why Food Prices Are Still So High In The U.S.
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- As inflation cools considerably, prices for items like gasoline, used cars and energy have all declined accordingly. But food prices continue to outpace inflation, increasing by 28% since 2019. 86% of consumers reported feeling frustrated with rising grocery prices, and over a third said they have resorted to buying fewer items to save money. Despite campaigning on grocery prices, President-elect Trump also acknowledged it might be ‘hard’ to bring down grocery prices. So why are food prices still so high? And can anything be done to bring the cost down?
Chapters:
1:56 Cost pass-through
4:25 Price gouging
6:46 Consumer impact
9:04 Solutions
Produced by: Juhohn Lee
Edited by: Erin Black
Animation: Christina Locopo, Jason Reginato
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Additional Production: Charlotte Morabito
Additional Footage: Getty Images
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Why Food Prices Are Still So High In The U.S.
Remember when Gary Pilnick, the CEO of Kellogg's, suggested that consumers eat cereal for dinner to save money during an interview on CNBC?
he suggested they get diabetes so he could simply "MAXIMIZE SHAREHOLDER VALLLLLLLLLUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Honestly it’s better to just skip dinner, do a 20-hour fast, and then have eggs+veggies+fruits for breakfast
The rate of inflation has been back down. The rate of inflation measures how quickly prices are rising: Prices are now rising far more slowly than in the past couple of years.
And while supply chain disruptions really did make it more expensive to produce a lot of goods, the cost to produce them now is rising even more slowly than prices.
But consumer prices are still elevated - allowing most corporations to keep their profit margins near a record high.
They can get away with overcharging you because they have monopoly power - or they have so few competitors that they can easily coordinate price increases with them and avoid price decreases.
Biden signed an executive order attacking monopolies and his FTC is currently now suing Amazon Jeff Bezos. But when Trump comes in, I guarantee you he will stop the lawsuit since Jeff Bezos is endorsing him and putting millions towards his inauguration .
Narcissistic ! 😒
@@YWang-vl2zh just to be hungry again by 4. Hangry by 7. And spend another 10-15 bucks for a night meal.
Inflation going down a bit doesn't mean prices will go down as well. It simply means prices are rising slower now
Indeed, I never understood why people think that a lower inflation would mean lower prices. It's sad in a way that so many people don't really know what inflation is, what causes it and what the consequences really are. Prices shouldn't go up because inflation is high. Inflation is high because prices have gone up.
@@Hans-gb4mvprices do go up because inflation is high lol it’s the driving factor
Yeah, people don't understand this, for prices to decrease we'd need deflation, which would shock the economy, the good way to do it would instead be that the next 10 or so years we have sub 2% inflation rates that way over time the amount of inflation we had, would stabilize to a 2% per year when averaged. That would also make it possible for salaries to keep up with inflation if they increase at a 2% annually.
But that will not happen, because 2% inflation is the "cut" that the US takes on the global economy printing dollars like crazy, sub 2% would mean spending cuts, which they will never do.
@@stayswervin554 No, inflation is not a factor. It's like saying accidents happen because of a high accident rate-an accident rate is a result, not a cause
You got it right. It's amazing how many people and even media reports pretend like prices are going to actually come down without a major economic meltdown to go with it.
Jamie, pull up the clip of the Kroger CEO admitting to price gouging
I first read that as Luigi
A grey trenchcoat with hoodie, face mask, bike, ticket to mexico
Vs
Millionaire CEO
Who will win?
@@TojiFushigoroWasTaken the police
Lol literally go to any one of their hundreds of competitors instead, no? I.e. Publix, Walmart, Aldi, Target, Cotsco, Sam's Club, etc. Price gouging is a made up concept created by politicians to explain the consequential results of their bad monetary policy. Instead of congress and Biden admitting that inflation was caused by their awful fiscal and energy policy (like declaring war on fossil fuels * cough cough* biden), these people cry "price gouging" to oversimplify the root cause of the issue.
And you guys are eating it up instead of holding dinosaurs in congress who spend money like there's no tomorrow (there isn't a tomorrow more than likely for 70 year olds).
Or the spirit of rebellion@@ndanielsporter
I don’t think people understand that grocery companies are making record-breaking profits. Inflation is very minimal. But price gouging is at an all-time high. And they’re doing it under the excuse of inflation because people will keep buying.
You're just lying.
@@prolific1518 great rebuttal... good job buddy 🎉😂
Liar
Inflation is still worse than pre-pandemic. With that being said, it's not at an all-time low as you stated incorrectly.
@@simonmaduxx6777 don't need an elaborate rebuttal for a flat out lie. Stick to the mainstream media they'll tell you what to think baby girl.
Our antitrust laws failed to prevent monopolies in our food industry. With no real competition, price gouging is rampant.
This is basic economics. Why would they decrease prices when they’re making record profits? The consumer always eats the bill.
Why would consumers stop paying when they're flooded with free money from the leftists?
Why would they lower the prices if they can't keep the stuff on the shelf at the current prices. Only time they lower prices is when people stop consuming so much
the people who complain about overpriced things be the main ones buying, u obvsiouly dont need what ever it is and you want it lol
THANK YOU!! If demand is still high, what incentive is there to lower prices? To be nice?? 😂
@@bvw3153maybe if people started eating dirt and grass, the grocery prices would come down.
yeah...im not buying anybody who is still using the pandemic/supply chains as an excuse. We have been back to work for 3.5 years. How about the consolidation of food companies into four major conglomerates? But, CNBC wouldn't want to say anything like that.
Exactly
They literally described this in detail. Are you deaf or dumb, boy?
CNBC stumping for its Democrat handlers. We all know what happened at the end of 2020. Vegetable boy invaded the White House.
I think what they meant is that food prices don't just go up and down but rather the rate at which they go up changes nominally according to inflation rate. So big inflation in covid made a big price jump, followed by decreased inflation that just increased prices, but slower.
That's what I got at least
Maga has been saying it's Biden, now I'm confused 😂
$3,187 a year to feed a family? Come on, show the real numbers. That just averages out to around $260 a month for a family. Its more like $1,000 a month.
Exactly what I thought. This was a bucket of lies
Video didn't say to feed a family. That's just groceries for the home. Americans love fast food, eating out, DoorDash and takeout drivers.
I eat 300 worth of food stamps by the 20th of the month. I spend another 150 in cash to eat until the 4th when stamps are reloaded. No junk. No meals with a lot of ingredients. Just basic nutrition.
Right? I was like that's it?
Yeah, I have a family of 5. If I take away the cost of the one time we eat out a week, my groceries will run about $200-250/week. That's $800-1000/month or about $10K give or take. That ain't chump change.
Eggs DID NOT come back down. It depends on the day you buy them in my area. They raise the prices 30-40% on busier days, primarily weekends. Yet they always have some new excuses: "bird flu, supply chain, new regulations". Really? Is that why eggs vary by 40% day by day? We're smarter than that.
Bird flu is real and raging again. But go ahead and insist that it does not exist.
A lot of my local stores don’t even have any eggs. Yes, the bird flu is real, but it is temporary.
Indeed 😅😅
@@RobertJohnson-bj5lk yes bird flu is certainly real. Also worsened because corrupt idiots didn't want to stomp it out early & hurt someone's profits so it has instead spread like wildfire everywhere.
No dawg they've literally paid settlements for artificially rising their prices through artificial supply control. These big chains culled their own chickens and been caught before, but the millions in fees from the settlements only make a dent in their profits, so they will continue to gouge shoppers.
An egg cost them 3ç and they sell it far above margin because they think Americans will keep buying-Until they stop buying (or better yet the Americans start keeping pet chickens/local farmers start growing) you probably won't see the price come back down for awhile.
My speculation is that big chains like Walmart use a AI supply algorithm.
If i buy local i get 3-4$/carton of 12 which the supplier currently has at $9/12 eggs. So technically speaking the big suppliers can keep it under $2.50 and still make a profit today, they just won't.
If i make my own coupe the prices for me even out (in one year) to about 12-15 cents per ((organic free range)) egg instead of 60-90ç/ commercial bland cage free egg.
If I'm paying WLMRT now for them it will be almost 80$ in eggs a month alone to feed a unit of 4 ppl in the mornings. (2 12AA cartons/WK).
That's $960/yr for eggs. jUST EGGS. 🐣
Why aren't we talking more about corporate greed?
Because people assume rising costs means a bad economy when it’s literally corporations refusing to drop prices. They’re putting profit over people always. You have to be evil to be a CEO of a corporation. Literally villains run them.
Because CNBC worships corporate greed
What corporate greed?
Nearly every chain grocery (most affordable options) operates at under 3% net margins.
@BB-vy6ig im pretty sure they mean the manufacturer
What really is corporate greed? Every human wants the best deal they can get. Where both sides agree, a transaction happens. L
Once the price goes up, it never comes down. That's economy
You obviously never opened a lemonade stand next to another to learn how to take market share. Tell that idiot professor that raising wages raise cost.
We don't have the same economy in the EU this is interesting
That's how Economy City works!
Yep, and everyone (well, not EVERYONE) blamed Biden for these prices but when tRump said he probably wouldn't be able to bring prices down after all, those same people just shrugged. Sad.
@@kev7161 And if/when he takes office, all the negative aspects of the economy will be "Biden mess" and all the positive aspects of the economy will mean "Trump is a genius."
My local store had blackberries for 7.99. No one bought them. They started to go bad. Prices dropped to 0.80.
Honestly, these prices helped me on my diet. Because I don’t buy crap anymore. -stares at cereal costing $6 for a box-
i nevr buy cereal until its 2/$5 oer something like that. $6 -7 cereal??
I went to buy a "family size" box of cereal recently and the box was _so thin,_ it was insulting that they think we don't notice what they're doing!
I'll just do without from now on.
Switching to a whole food plant-based diet will save you about a third of your food budget according to a study I could cite
You're better off buying oatmeal in terms of price and in terms of how healthy it is.
@@someguy2135 that’s exactly what I do now. Saving money and body is looking right! It took a minute for my body to get over processed foods and the cravings.
CNBC doing its part to make sure corporations aren’t labeled as greedy. All the reasons except corporate monopolies.
Excellent point. That lady at the beginning saying there are so many other things that go to the price of food beyond the 16 cents that farmers get. BS. Just a whole bunch of middleman taking an unnecessary cut.
They're covering for their Democratic Party's reckless spending.
@@vmoses1979 inflation has been going up since 1913
So go to the farmer yourself.@@vmoses1979
@@vmoses1979 middlemen don't exist just for fun.
They deliver services like transport, import/export paperwork, more efficient resource allocation & distribution bc economy of scale,...
The "initial" producers are free to cut the middlemen and sell more directly.
Which often would mean more cost for them.
Living in the US these days is like earning in Indian Rupees and spending in USD.
400 Trillion Zimbabwe !
I think its like $800 usd
I like saying it because it sounds like much more .😆
It’s not inflation, it’s corporate greed. Inflation has gone down quite a lot, but notice the prices are the same? Blame the corporations.
Can you pull up the clip of the Kroger CEO admitting to price gouging? I doubt CNBC is going to hold corporations accountable but at least people are and speaking against the corporate washing.
Your MISSING the CAUSE of inflation though;
In 1913, bread was .05 a loaf.
Along came The Federal Reserve PRIVATE bankers in 1913 to print the nation's currency even though Jefferson WARNED us that first through inflation, then rapid deflation, we would wake up HOMELESS on our own shores if we let a Central bank print our currency.
BARELY 100+ years later, they printed so much loot for THEMSELVES, to buy whatever industry they wanted their "friends" to buy.
Bread is now 7.00 in my store.
I want you to understand that is 14,000% inflation.
Divided by the 111 years they printed our cash to dirt.
That's 126% PER year!!!!!
You can check my math.
It jibes.
There has NEVER been a 2% inflation in my 55 years alive.....EVER.
They covered the fact that major chains have price gouged and people understand that.
@@housepianist They only thing they cover is up.
Sounds like the CEOs of other industries need an Adjuster visit.
CNBC itself is a corporation. And they will try to control the narrative on the conversation whenever & where-ever they can.
Be careful who you listen to
two words: corporate GREED.
there is no real reason for prices to still be this high.
You mean politicians greed, I mean... these companies produce only politicians spend but don't produce.
mr thompson we all know its not the "gubment", we all know the gubment is what the company uses to strongarm
So corporations were altruistic before 2020?
Just nationalize it. Worked fine in the USSR.
Pretty much all links in the grocery chain have really low margin.
The reality is that it goes all ways. We should have never doubled our money supply during covid. Both candidates in 2020 campaigned on giving more stimulus and we voted for them. That stimulus money was sent to American's who bought from LVMH and doubled Bernard Arnault's net worth from ~100B to ~200B. Cumulative Inflation over the last 4 years was not 20% like reported, more like 100% and anyone who's looked at the money supply knows this. Put narratives aside; reality is hard to accept but life get's better when you do accept it.
Corporate consolidation is also a concern for food prices; the fact that large companies control the food supply chain reduces competition, increases prices, and reduces options for consumers. Thus, we are reliant on large companies charging what they please because they're the only one in town
Not to mention the quality is getting worse and worse because of it. They want to feed us meat grow from cells in a big metal vat and not from a slaughtered animal.
Community gardens are a blessing.START ONE
It isn't always that easy. Where I live there is very little to no soil. Agriculture is very limited in my region and growing food is rare and difficult with the exception of a few possible crops.
This! is what I was waiting for them to say! Thankyou
TLDW: Electing Trump isn't gonna fix that.
Neither was electing Harris either
@dubenforcer right because it's not a simple thing to fix. Didn't stop Trump from claiming he could.
@@dragonivUm….Grocery prices were a huge part of Harris’s campaign. She talked about price gouging vehemently.
It will, It Will!! he promised, and he has never spoken an untruth in his 80 years on Earth! : "From the day I take the oath of office, we’ll rapidly drive prices down, and make America affordable again. Prices will come down. You just watch. They’ll come down and they’ll come down fast.":-)
@@anathardayaldarthey can though. They can strengthen and enforce antitrust laws! But when everyone's campaign donors are corporate oligarchs, there's no chance of that ever happening.
I was a producer of mushrooms. I sold to grocery stores, they add 100% margin to the mushrooms I was selling them.
Their gross margin is therefore 50%. That may not be enough. Wages and Rentals costs can be as good as input material costs.
I would also consider the pressure or incentives from the biggest suppliers (ie. Tyson for chicken) to make sure their products stay competitive with local brands. They can have a big influence.
That is a tiny markup on food. I work for an electrical panel manufacturer and that is the markup our smallest least important distributors get.
There is no way a family only spends $3187 per year on groceries. I am single and I spend about $6000 a year. About $120-$130 per week. And I might buy an expensive item, like a steak, once every 6 weeks. Other than that I buy cheap items and eat about twice per day
Exactly
Agreed. We’re a family of three plus a pet and we spend $220/week on whole veggies, fruits, eggs, and meat plus household items like dishwashing liquid, detergent and TP. We don’t even buy any processed food. So saying $3187/year is bogus.
I spend about six hundred plus a month just for myself.
I agree! Just for myself:
Fruit ends up costing about 20$, veggies another 25$, bread about $5, dairy and eggs $10, meat $ 30. Then if there is something to restock like pasta, oil, honey/sugar, flour, spices, salt, condiments, coffee, tea, that easily pushes it up another 10-30 depending on what it is. Thats 100-120$ for 1 person: 5200-6240. $
Then you shop at a rip off expensive grocery store
Price gouging is not a theory. It is happening.
@@CeceMA05 they got you by the balls
🎯
Yep In All Developed And Developing Countries USA Canada Australia Argentina Venezuela And Nigeria
Its not happening if profit margins have remain steady for the past four years.... it means prices have increased in line with expenses. Simply logic
@@jorgeavelar98 “In 2022-2023 Kraft Heinz profits skyrocketed from $225 million to $887 million, an increase of 448%. Gross profit margins reached 34%, up 400BP over Q3 2022.” Price gouging for sure.
Remember your favorite ceo made a few millions to billions while your upset about 7 dollar eggs
why are prices so high? why no one ever asks, why are wages so low?
We struggle to afford a basket of groceries, while CEO's take Private Jet rides to islands for vacation. Also, when you have only a few companies contracting with a vast majority of farms and ranches, it eliminates competition and jacks up prices. We need to go back to when a bunch of small to medium companies would compete for contracts with Farmers and Ranchers, not just two or three major corporations.
Stop comparing and complaining and work and develop and invest in the skills to be a c-suite executive. 🤷🏽♂️ life isn’t fair..
@@manoftomorrow5987which is exactly why i don’t care when CEOs get sh*t down lol. “life’s not fair “
@manoftomorrow5987 go try it and let us know how it went
Then become a CEO. What? You don't have the one in a million talent? Talk is cheap, blaming others are free, but having the skill to put up or shut up is priceless.
@ Understanding basics economics is all that’s needed.
Simple answer is GREED.
Exactly 💯👍
Lazy uneducated answer. Real answer government over spending, printing, and bailing out corporations. Inflation comes directly from our government not the other way around.
@@darienford860this is a lazy uneducated response
@@darienford860 Great response - as long as it’s not pushing “we must pay off the debt” or “no deficits ever,” since all dollars are government liabilities created by deficit spending. But if you mean the government, as monopoly currency issuer, drives inflation by overpaying and throwing money around recklessly, then you’re right on point!
No it's not. Look at their overhead.
I am starting to grow my own foods in the garden now!
Same here! I am blessed to be renting a property where I’m able to do so. I also have ducks for eggs! Being self sufficient is the way to go if possible. Shop local, support small businesses and farmers markets. Barter with neighbors for food items you’re not growing. We can do this!
@@Defender_messenger Be sure to cook the duck eggs long enough.
Potatoes and onions love hay bale gardens! It's my go-to.
Or do volunteering at a food bank to get free food
I Already Did That For Years But However It’s Varies By Region And Climate
"Everyone in the chain is protecting their margin." So the consumer at the bottom of the chain gets the cost increases accrued along the way. How frustrating this is!
Yeah, and higher energy prices are multiplied by the number of steps in the chain, and passed on to the customer. If energy is +$0.10 and there's 10 steps, the customer pays at least +$1.
One of the absolute worst is Kroger. In my area, nearly every Kroger store was being enlarged or remodeled in years past. I used to do rideshare and I drove quite a few Kroger employees to work and they stated they hated working there, no raises in years, bad working conditions, etc. Then Kroger went to Albertsons and tried to merge with them, creating a company with almost 6000 stores. When the FTC said no because it would stifle competition, Kroger ended it, but then did a massive two billion $$ plus stock buyback and rewarded its shareholders and executives. IMO, it is price gouging.
I have absolutely refused to shop at Kroger since moving away from KY where the store was great. Here, it's dirty, unkempt, and nobody in management seems to care, much less corporate when I've called to complain. I now shop mostly at Lidl, where the pricing is much better. We also cook economically, ingredient shop, buy in-season, buy less, grow a garden, occasionally shop local produce stands, and don't eat out much.
Kroger has not given up buying out their competitors. They have paused this for a future attempt.
It is staggering how many people genuinely think that returning inflation to 2% will cause grocery prices to drop 20%.
It's as insane as slowing down a car from 40mph to 20mph and then being surprised you weren't transported 3 miles backwards.
We're lied to about cumulative inflation and people can't usually figure it out.
poor math education
u dont learn any of this in schools maybe a private school but thats a small population
Exactly. People are financially illiterate as well and are simply being victimized now.
An inflation of 0% means the prices are NOT going up further but staying at the same levels. It doesn't mean prices to drop a single cent !
Food prices will never go down. You're forced to buy food to survive. Unless everyone really locked in on beans and rice, nothing's going to change.
They got you by the balls. Same thing with gas.
They will go down if the conglomerates are broken up but getting our corporate-owned government to do that will be very hard to do.
Start new companies
@@mactownsend2890gas goes up and down all the time.
It’s 2.39 where I live right now.
Normally, yes. There would need to be shock in asset prices like the video said and/or a massively negative depression. Inflation is making things feel bad, but compared to other parts of the world, we are doing well, but most people don't care since they are still doing worst and can buy less than 5 years ago.
TLDR: Cooperate price gouging can’t be fixed and will continue because your government is lobbied by the same companies gouging your wallet.
@@hankwells2637 inflation has been going up since 1913
Exactly spot on!
Anyone who thinks the Trump administration is going to fix this has another thing coming.
Prices aren’t going back down. This is the new reality.
I have permanently cut back 95% of soft drink purchases due to the price gouging.
Well at least there's good effects of inflation. You might even save on health care long term.
Its going to get worse, I cook all of my meals at home from scratch and drink water and my food bill is still insane @@edheldude
I buy much less stuff for sure. Eventually there will be big losers. There already are.
I ONLY buy soda when its on sale. Target does a "buy 3 packs and get 40% off soda" deal about once per quarter and that's when I buy my sodas because it brings the price down to roughly $4.55 per pack, which is actually cheaper than what I was paying pre-pandemic when my local grocery store had a 3 for $15 deal running all the time.
Cause double to poison yourself, crazy 😂
And it's about to get worst. 😒
Don't worry Mr Maga says he will lower prices lol
@gunsfromreddeadredemption he already gone back on that and said not much he can do. 😂😂
@@pmarcusb people are stupid and don't understand that but they'll see
It will be better than Biden
@@gunsfromreddeadredemptionhaha…that’s not happening 😂😂
The Fed needs to reduce corn & soy subsidies and subsidize real food production.
Too bad that's not how the companies that shareholders are invested in will make money easier and faster.
The Fed needs to stop printing money and keep interest rates high other wise inflation will return.
The takeaway from this entire video really needs to be that there is *no federal ban on price gouging.*
I've been talking about market concentration for years. Sooner or later, ALL industries hit a plateau where there's just no more money to make. The only way to push things higher without significant innovation is to acquire other companies and capture more market share. This had led to there being 2-4 major players in most industries. With so few major players, these companies can essentially collude on raising pricing without actually talking to each other, because they can observe what each other is doing and follow suit since it's in their own best interest. If markets had 10+ major companies, this would be basically impossible to accomplish since the competition would be fierce.
When companies are making record profits, it's price gouging.
It just means inflation is high. On paper the profits are higher as a result but not in real terms.
@@edheldude No you are wrong. Not only did the dollar amount of corporate profits go up, those profits now make up a greater percentage of that sticker price consumers pay.
So a larger FRACTION of that final sticker price of stuff is what the corporations are keeping for themselves as PROFIT.
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis U.S. department of commerce, which has many reports that would bring you to the same conclusion but the specific one I pulled up is 'Gross Domestic Product (Second Estimate), Corporate Profits (Preliminary Estimate), Second Quarter 2024' Thursday, August 29, 2024
@@samanthaurbank Maybe in some cases, but context is important here.
This isn't true for grocery chains. Find me data on a big grocery store that has a meaningful net profit percentage increase in the last decade. I'll wait.
It'll be a waste of your time though, because there are none. They all operate at already razor thin net margins and that hasn't changed in as long as you have been alive.
This seems true of some grocery producers but the grocery retailers themselves maintained thin profit margins
@@samanthaurbank If there's high inflation, a company needs to pay for it now and also (over) prepare for the next year's prices to keep the risk low and the business steady. They use this year's higher profits to pay for the next year's even higher prices.
Oligarchy = a small group of people (corporations & billionaires) having control of a country, organization, or institution.
So it’s not left vs right
@@James_300never was, that was all noise before 😢
No it wasn’t. Trump and Obama was Buddy Buddy at the dead presidents funeral a few days ago
per household cost of food according to the USDA is $6,800-$15,000.... not $3,187 as mentioned in this report
Some journalists. Even the government figures are way beyond their numbers.
$3187 = $8.73 a day to feed a family in the US? Who is editor for this news channel? what a joke..
Only 5 major food companies own the whole industry. Its called monopolies . Point blank.
Exactly. It’s not inflation, it’s corporate greed. They’d rather make a little extra money for each transaction rather than keep it affordable for everyone else that actually has to penny pinch.
@matjb i blame the people by allowing this
@ most people didn’t know about it
@matjb cause we choose to focus on social media and games instead of truth. We like to complain without solutions
@ The average person cannot do much. This is a politicians job to do. The only way we can do something is if everyone just stopped buying until prices went down. But then they’d go back up higher because of the deficit in profit from lack of consumption. Remember what happened with gas companies when Covid happened and nobody was driving, then everyone started working again? Prices skyrocketed to prices we never saw before.
The average family is only spending 3100 a year on food? That's less than 260 a month, I don't think that's right
Lack of competition is the problem with our food and grocery.
Growing our own food is the best competition
Try Aldi and Lidl. As far as possible, avoid brands which are adveertised on television.
While competition, in theory, should decrease food prices, in reality the economies of scale (or lack thereof) would drive prices higher. The consolidation of the market didn’t happen for no reason; it happened because it is more effective and reduces operating costs. The problem is that this efficiency is geared toward making profits (for a handful of owners)(capitalism) instead of benefitting public (you can finish this part on your own).
Bring on Stater bros.
@@John_259 Any food that is being advertised is being sold at huge margins. Otherwise you can't afford ads. Cereal costs less than the box it's packaged in.
Its because companies know consumers will accept it. Companies have monopoly and thank goodness the Kroger and Albertsons was blocked but with Trump that can get overturned. Kroger is already trying out dynamic pricing so food prices will be treated airline tickets. This country is gone.
I was in Ecuador not long ago and all their food is grown locally. You can buy 13 tomatoes for 1 dollar. Pineapple 50 cents each. A whole chicken for $3.70 and 24 eggs for $2.15. Greed is the problem in America.
Companies know consumers will accept it because the alternative of not eating isn't a long-term alternative.
Obama
@@stevk5181People should also stop having kids. Too many mouths to feed and they can't pay for it. Been living on my own for awhile, make a decent wage and can feed myself with whatever I want.
How do you grow pineapples and tomatoes in New York in January?
@@thedopplereffect00 green house
Trust me, this is worldwide problem. Not in just the US only.
True but BIDEN started the problem in US. When US has inflation, the world follows. Chain reaction.
Food prices in Europe are 15-30% less than in the USA so inflation has not hit everywhere equally.
China has deflation.
@solracer66 But, but.people make 40% less in Europe and are taxed higher.
Canada Is Way Worse According To Poilievere Due To Stupid Carbon Created By Justin Castro Communist Trudeau
nope... no one in that chain NEEDS to raise prices... they are protecting profit margins. it is price gouging. the "stickiness" are the corps having sticky fingers.
Basically America ignored and overlooked family farms and we're paying for it now.
Car insurance up 50% and food up 30% this country is doomed.
My car insurance actually went down in Dec. Not sure why but I'll take it.
@@Ioncandi Mine went up about 15% across the board in December 2024.
@@Ioncandi My car insurance went down in December (😏) and my health insurance will go up in January (😒).
I pay $50 a month for a 2020 Buick Encore through State Farm extra coverage
Not mine, I bought an Ebike and saved money on insurance, registration, and gas.
Americans have the wrong idea that only in US food prices are high.I live in a country of European Union and our food prices are very high,compared with salaries.
We lie about the cost of living. End of story.
I live in South East Asia and food price has always been high. It's not unusual to buy less meat, AND heavily salt them so that a portion could be stretched out across as many meals as possible. Even offals aren't freebies, while they practically give them away in developed countries. The US and EU still got it much better than the majority of the world's population.
Yes, European food prices are also increasing, but they are way lower than the US prices. Did you see in the video how much by example tomatoes cost in the US? Crazy!
@cnxexpat1862 yes, you will see posts of the web of people complaining about the price of groceries, but their carts are full of name brand and/or fine foods. Part of the reason for the egg price issue was that people straight up refused to believe you could eat anything but eggs for breakfast.
@@cnxexpat1862that’s why the op said compared to salaries. Prices in the United States will always be higher than the EU because on average, American salaries are higher than their counterparts in the EU.
When CEOs are breaking record profits/bonuses they can lower prices and still pay employees more without "passing" the cost
America is weird place. It seems like majority of the people hate corporations that are milking them but they elect the most corporate friendly politicians they can find. Americans literally support import tax on themselves AND support corporate tax cut. I don't even know how is that possible.
Thank God for Lina Kahn scaring Albertsons away from the Kroger merger. You will be missed Lina. You fought for the average American, and we won't forget that.
I agree and I'm center right. Leave Lina alone. 😭
The average American already forgot that when they voted for Trump
@@Vivek-nh1vh,
Trump never has got my vote and never will. He campaigned on lowering the cost of food and is already said that's not possible
@@Vivek-nh1vhVoters were distracted by "immigrants" and "Dem policies" somehow inflating prices, while corporations openly describe how they're making bank off of American consumers hand over fist.
Thus the reason I buy directly from local farmers. I get 90% of what I eat from them.
Companies just want more profits and they dont care who it hurts.
"Companies" don't do anything. People do. If you think there's price gouging, it means there's room for you to compete, so start competing. You'll find out the margins are razor thin.
@edheldude Well, if you prefer this - companies of people are greedy. Rather than food distributors view the profits under Covid period as an outlier, they have pushed to retain prices and profits at that level. The recordings are evidence of their thinking. We need more ethical and courageous leaders. Hope you are one.
@@edheldude I don't know a lot about this stuff. It seems like you have a good amount of confidence in your knowledge, so would you please help me? When you say the margins are paper thin, what are 'the margins'? What does that word mean in the world of business and finance?
@@samanthaurbank I can help here. @edheldude is 100% correct.
When you see the term "net margin" just think "the percentage of all sales that end up being PROFIT".
For instance, a company operating at a 5% net margin, only ends up with $5 for every $100 you spend with them.
Chain grocery stores typically operate at 2-3% net margin. So, next time you go to the grocery store and spend $200 on groceries.. walk out knowing the store only really made $4-$6 in profit. Wild huh?
Corporate greed doesn't exist with grocery stores, they are all 5% profit away from going out of business.
So prices are going up, wages are not, and many companies are posting record profits. Hmmm...
How are so many companies making record profits year on year, even during economic downturns, without underpaying staff or price gouging. That money has to come from somewhere...
Inflation means higher numbers for companies. It doesn't mean they make more money in real terms.
@@edheldude Thats a good point.
@@edheldudeissue is that we’re past inflation. They’re using inflation as an excuse even though indicators are pointing to decreased inflation. Main issue is is that they’re not reflecting the prices off inflation anymore except for when inflation gets high, but once it hits that point and goes back down they’re not letting the food reflect that decrease anymore.
WHAT!!!!$3,187 per year. Who the heck came up with that figure??? We spent $1,200 per month for a household of four. Somebody needs a reality check. I invite this person to come grocery shop with me.
Kroger eggs near me are $10.79 for 18 eggs. I'd rather not eat or shop elsewhere. Prices like that are a total JOKE with zero logical reason other than price gouging, as they admitted.
Whaaaa?! Where on Earth do you live? Here in Central North Carolina, I just paid $2.50 for a dozen eggs at LiDL, but that's not much less than the major supermarkets around here.
Kroger in my area of central Illinois $2.49 for 12-pack eggs
They are price gouging..
There’s No Kroger On Long Island
@@debbieframpton3857 i just went shopping at my Grocery store and got the store brand eggs and it cost $8.99 like wtf it only has 12 inside
I shop in multiple grocery stores. None of them had eggs prices lowered in the last 4 years, in fact nothing decreased, and prices keep going up even today
Aldi had a dozen eggs for $2.87 just 2 weeks ago.
Only city people get Aldis.
@@marciamartins1992bruh it doesn’t get better than Aldis and Walmart. I own a supermarket, trust me 💀💀
Greed. Saved you a watch
Wow did you read that from the comments?
The main reasons behind skyrocketing food prices are consolidation and monopoly. From producing to retailing, a few companies control the majority of the markets. And yes, the trend starts from 2016!
With the "generous" 2.5% increase in Social Security for 2025, after I received my January rent increase, I am already operating at a loss for the year. And, Republicans want to cut Social Security.
And people think Trump is going to Lower prices 😂😂😂
He is by removing the government b.s. that gets in the way of farmers
...and some people think Biden had nothing to do with inflation.🤣🤣🤣
@@fpp6670Biden is getting his 10 percent from Ukraine 😂😂😂
@@fpp6670genuine question, what do you think Biden should have done differently to lower inflation?
@@fpp6670and other people just can’t get it through their heads that Trump also played a role in this inflationary cycle with all of his spending
Everything goes up significantly except income, of course. 🤓
If you don't position yourself correctly, you are in no position to negotiate higher pay.
Unless you are the CEO and/or a shareholder.
The truth is manufacturers have reformulated their products for maximum profits and prices are never going to come down.
The best that we can hope for in the United States is a total revamping of our food supply chain and healthier grown closer to home food.
It's not effective to grow closer to home if you get better yields somewhere else. It'd be more effective without subsidies and gov interference.
$3,187 to feed a family is completely unrealistic. I spend $800-$1000 a month for my family of 4. Wife and 2 kids 2 and under too
I’ve got an explanation. Corporate greed. They’ve got plenty in profits while we put our groceries on credit. Don’t forget rent went up, utilities went up, gas went up, the list goes on.
You can say prices increased only 26%, but now we’re getting less food too. So make it 50% and that’s more accurate. We have to buy twice as much to feed the same people in our homes.
Always the same story.
I sell poultry to supermarkets and butchers, when you have to increase the price of a product while having really short margins, they treat you like a thief, but when you see that you're selling chicken breast for 6,30€/kg, they will sell it for 16€/kg (I'm in France)
The famous cost increases 👌
And don't forget the workers paid and treated like expandable trash
My wife's family, farmers, used to sell their fruit and produce to stores, and they were lucky to get 10% of what the store ultimately sold it for, now I get it the store isn't going to sell everything and there will be waste, but still. Then my wife pushed hard for them to sell at farmer's markets, now they get make much more money, even if they don't sell everything and have to compost it, and they only do like 2 markets a week.
So why don't you open your own shop and sell directly?
tbh this is not in France only; if you sell your goods to wholesaler when they push your price down to add different risks + you have no choice (or you may sell your goods at a higher price to your clients directly but i dont know how it works in France)
“Once food prices go up, they tend to stay up.” Well… DUHH! That happens with everything. Well… everything EXCEPT wages! THAT is the problem!
Yeah after the pandemic ended a bunch of places actually reduced the wages lol.
And the food that isn't bought just gets thrown away. They'd rather waste food than lower prices or donate to the hungry.
Its despicable.
What's more despicable is when ppl grab things that are refrigerated or hot and ready like rotisserie chicken and then decide against it and leave it in areas where they clearly don't belong such as in the middle of an aisle that's nowhere near the place they were originally. That good food that someone might have bought now has to go into the trash because it's been sitting out for too long.
The stores where I live donate to food pantries they don't throw away
Likely because of the legal liability of serving risky old food. Not that it's right, just a disclaimer should suffice.
@@doujinflipin the U.S., the Good Samaritan Act actually protects grocery stores donating food from liability.
@@rmart0510yeah we prolly throw out at least 100 dollars of groceries every day due to customer laziness.
While we attacked each other defending rich politicians, we never payed attention to the real thieves.
It's surprising that inflation has cooled down, yet food prices are still 'climbing' excessively! In fact, a decrease in inflation only indicates that prices are rising more slowly, not that they will return to previous levels.
Anyone else wondering what lasagna soup is no just me? OK 😂
😂 same
Just made some the other day, it was great lol 😂
I bought two 20 lbs bags of potatoes, big bags of onions, beets and turnips, one bag of white flour, brown flour and rolled oats for breakfast porridge all for $100 CDN 🇨🇦. Let's cook healthy and heartly meals like our grandparents.
Yes, healthy food is still comparably very affordable. I bake my own bread now.
That's not a healthy diet. Meat is essential.
But even the cheap foods are still double or triple the price they should be. Today, 1/4/25, I saw a 5lbs bag of dried black beans for $10 at Wal-Mart for the Great Value store brand. 3 years ago those beans would have been $0.99 per lbs. in 2019 they would have been $0.33-0.50 per lbs. Eating like our grandparents is still signifigantly more expensive than it should be.
You got 8 separate items and it cost you almost 100 and none of that was protien like beans or meat/fish. That's terribly expensive
The health thing to eat is meat not carbs. Our grandparents ate fatty red meat.
I just don’t eat food now literally. My kids eat rice, pasta, bread, dairy, fruit, veggies, oatmeal, small amount of meat. You can eat cheap if you eat Whole Foods and shop at Aldi and Costco. Snacks are actually the most expensive food.
I bake all our snacks. Make cookies, cakes, etc super easy recipes online. Even make bread when I feel like it.
You can... but you shouldn't have too. That's the whole point. Corporate greed settles you down to "I just don't eat food now literally"... and you seem to be content with that and actually proud of what your kids are limited to eating. Good for you! Corporations propaganda and news media and politicians have brainwashed you well to keep their status quo and your contention.
well ur problem is there ur getting food at places that is known for being exspensive and then your paying a membership this made me laugh walmart been cheap and still is cheap so is Dollar general
Costco Is A Waste Of Money For Some Individuals Who Wants To Pay A Membership Fees As Low Income Individuals
Costco Is For Wealthy People Not Poor People
Price gouging and enshitification. That's it, those are the causes. Companies are getting away with unjustly jacking up prices while cutting costs in literally every way they can possibly get away with.
Everyone realizing that inflation going down doesn’t mean greedy companies are going to lower their prices. This why when politicians say they are going to lower inflation it means nothing. Companies be greedy
Wages are not outpacing inflation. Money supply has grown exponentially. Too much money chasing too few goods. Prices are 40% higher. Too many years of easy money transferred wealth to asset owners. Hey CNBC, why are home prices up 50% since 2019?
A handful of bean counters are in charge of our basic necessities is what I gathered from this video.
"This is a stock exchange. There's no money you can steal here." "Right, then why are you people here?"
Grocery stores are taking advantage of people not buying fast food anymore and wanting to save by cooking themselves.
People not understanding how inflation works is nothing new.
The reason why is simple......CORPORATE GREED
Thank You!! Finally someone with smarts!!!
They weren't greedy before? K...
That's the easy answer if you don't want to look at reality like increased energy prices or inflation.
9:28 - the average **family** spends $3,187 per year? Good lord...I spend $3,600/yr for just me. Lunch/dinner meals average about $4/meal, and breakfast is about $1. Throw in coffee and the few cleaning supplies I include and that gets ya there. What in the world are people eating?
Greedflation has nothing to with Inflation.
It's kind of amazing how little ACTUAL information CNBC managed to put into this 14 minute video. They basically used very few numbers. No talk about how little the inputs to food production increased vs the actual inflation in food prices. Sure labor prices went up. But oil prices and gasoline prices have actually decreased. Good to see they did talk a little about what we all know is happening; price gouging. These monopolies need to be broken up.
Unlimited Corporate greed, price gouging, record profits & monopolies are why prices are still so high. You’ll 💀 waiting on executives to say enough is enough!
Consumers have become accustomed to paying outrageously high cost for eggs, bread, milk, meats, etc. Therefore, it is simple Business 101, a company is NOT going to bring the average cost of eggs to $3.00 when we have been paying $7.00 per carton. That is simple economics and corporate greed.
Next Case.
Yeah the whole "law of Supply and Demand" is nothing more than a manufactured justification for "greed".
Well good thing ya'll elected yer hero who said. Oh. Well I can't really lower food prices like I promised. My bad.
And the trumpanzees will still bend over for him! Just watch!
food companies on the stock market, what can you expect
95% of all my shopping done for the week relies on coupons or sales. I rarely pick up groceries at full price anymore.
Monsanto owns the world's food supply, they own the pesticides and the seeds that are resistant to those pesticides... look it up.
I've always said this: Buy fruits and veggies from small, local, mom-pop owned grocery stores and farmer markets whenever you can. Especially the ethnic ones. Their prices are SO much cheaper than big brand grocery stores. I regularly get steep discounts like 99 cents for 10lbs of asparagus from my local small ethnic grocery store. If there are small farms and butchers near you that sell meats and eggs, they're also usually cheaper than big chain grocery stores. Don't let big corporate greed run rampant and support local small businesses.
The "ethnic ones"? 😂
That only works if you actually have the cash to bring to these farmers markets. Most people are paying for food on the credit cards so they don't actually have the real money to pay for groceries.
@@Ioncandimany take apps
I wish that were the case where I live. The small farmers’ booths at every farmer’s market in our town is super expensive.
Greed, and
TOO
MANY
PEOPLE.
It feels impossible to live.
"Protect their margin" is a nice way of saying price gouging.
It’s called corporate price gouging. The manufacturers are gouging their customers to continue to rake in record profits. It’s just another example of what happens when the government has been bribed into not enacting much needed regulations.
Even when prices came down a very small amount corporations at the same time reduced the package sizing so in reality nothing really changed. Shortages causes higher prices but GREED causes it more. Get use to the higher prices because they will never return to anything close to what they were. Doesn't matter who's president.