~by Colleen O’Brien
Why do you think the cost of groceries is so high – 23 percent percent higher than in 2020, in fact?
Must be Biden, huh. He’s the president. He’s in charge. Must be his fault also for the once-again-and-forever rising price of gasoline as well.
That’s what people who can’t afford rising prices of anything, let alone these necessities, are saying. Look what Biden’s done; we won’t be voting for him.
They’re getting the wrong news or no news.
The rules are that no president— Democrat or Republican, friend of King Oil or pusher of alternative fuels — can do much to affect the short-term price of oil, Rice Krispies, gasoline, airline tickets.
Could the national press fix this situation? Yes.
They could report on it. Repeatedly. Like they report on Trump. Repeatedly.
They could write the stories that expose the corporations that raise the prices, and they could remind us just as often that the president doesn’t have the authority to lower the price of a box of Cheerios or a gallon of Exxon.
They could report that it is the Congress that protects the people against gouging from businesses, their cheating, their putting a thumb on the scales.
It is the Congress that makes the laws, supposedly for the people. But in their greedy, wheedley way, our employees, the Senators and Congressfolk, don’t chastise corporate for high food and gas prices, nor do they write bills and pass them to protect us. They give outrageous tax cuts to the wealthy.
They are do-nothings because they do nothing for us, who elect them, who pay them.
They work for big money.
Big money, the likes of which Mr. Gary Pilnick, chief executive officer of Kellogg’s, makes in a year – base salary of $1 million with $4 million in incentives – according to the Sept., 2023 Securities and Exchange Commission. As one pundit said, “I’m sure he’s feeding his kids cereal for supper.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics say that prices for cereals and cereal products are 350.93 percent higher in 2024 versus 1977 (a $70.19 difference in value).
Said another way, between 1977* and 2024, cereals and cereal products inflated 3.26 percent per year. In other words, cereals costing $20 in the year 1977 would cost $90.19 today, in 2024, for the same box of sugar.
Therefore, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, $20 in 1977 has the same “purchasing power” as $90.19 in 2024
If you want to complain, please complain; it is an American right. Complain to high heaven via the guys doing the wrongs. Tell your news sources you want the news, not the press releases from Kellog’s telling us to eat Frosty Flakes for supper to cut down our outrageous grocery bills.
*U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the Consumer Price Index for cereals and cereal products in 1977.
