Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives. – John Stuart Mill
There is a persistently asinine social media inflation meme that purports to depict exactly how Uncle Joe ruined our lives by single-handedly forcing the cost of groceries to soar to heretofore unseen heights. And the moronic MAGA multitude laps it up just like a Bible passage they conveniently ignore. Never mind that it’s nothing more than more rightwing propaganda.
Whenever I debunk said meme, despite directly citing current supermarket prices, the Trumpers whip themselves up into the kind of self-righteous frenzy that makes you wonder how they dress themselves in the morning. So much for critical thinking.
My favorite fiction is that a gallon of not-from-concentrate orange juice was a buck twenty-nine back in good ole 2020. Per the USDA, the average gallon of OJ would run you $8.62 back then. But who wants to quibble about a 570 percent difference. And you can get the same thing at Meijer for a mere $7.99 when it’s not on sale. Meanwhile, our moronic memer somehow believes it’s $4.99 a gallon, which is as big of a lie as “the election was stolen.”
Twelve ounces of coffee was supposedly $6.99 in 2020 when it was actually $5.28 for an entire pound. At this very moment, I can get 12 oz. of Meijer’s finest Colombian for just $4.49 on sale, and $5.29 when it isn’t. That means Uncle Joe had no effect on the price of Joe.
It’s a similar case with a loaf of white bread which was actually $1.40, not $1.50, in 2020, and it’s two loaves for 3 bucks at Meijer which makes it far less expensive than the meme’s two bucks.
Yes! Eggs are more expensive now, but that has nothing to do with inflation and everything to do with the bird flu, which likely started because of questionable poultry farming practices.
Chicken breasts are NOT $4 a pound. If you pay attention to the Jewel ads that show up in your mailbox every Wednesday, you can get the antibiotic-free boneless/skinless variety for $1.99 a pound. That’s when I stock up. Meijer had essentially the same thing on sale last week for $2.49 a lb., too.
The price of ground beef actually has gone up, but once again, that increase has everything to do with supply and nothing to do with inflation. According to The Hill, there were 87.2 million U.S. head of cattle at the beginning of the year, which makes it the lowest inventory since 1951. With the demand for beef as strong as ever, that lack of supply means that prices will go up and no president can do a damn thing about it.
Since when are tomatoes a buck a pop? Maybe if you’re silly enough to shop at Geneva’s uber-expensive Fresh Market you can find them at that price, but Meijer’s selling romas for 37 cents each and the larger greenhouse variety for 81 cents. Even organic on-the-vine tomatoes are going for 89 cents – when they’re not on sale. Better yet, you can grow your own!
And how is it that I can get unsalted butter at Trader Joe’s for the 2020 $3.99 a pound price, and not the meme advertised $5.49? Perhaps there’s something wrong with my math.
Because conservatives can’t get anything right, an 18 oz. box of Cheerios is actually more expensive, at $5.49, than the meme might suggest. But name brand cereal has always been a complete rip off. The easy answer to that kind of highway robbery is to buy the Meijer brand, instead, which is likely made by Kellogg and it’ll run you $2.99 for the same box. Or you can purchase a 15 oz. box of (Trader) Joe’s Os goes for a scant $2.49.
I could keep going, but I’m sure even the MAGA morons have caught on by now.
That’s not to say that COVID-induced supply chain issues didn’t affect grocery prices because they did, but that made me a smarter shopper.
We’ve previously discussed how those avaricious Kraft folks sent my once-preferred A1 Steak Sauce skyrocketing to well over five bucks a medium bottle during the plague. So, I simply switched to Country Bob’s at $3.49 for the same amount, and as it turns out, I like it far more than A1.
And that kind of savvy shift is starting to take place on a national scale. Per this often-cited Wall Street Journal article, the average American is wising up to this artificial price gouging to the tune of 65 percent of shoppers are abandoning name brands. Even the Birds Eye vegetable CEO admitted it was a mistake to unduly raise prices during the pandemic because those customers are happy with the store brands and they won’t be coming back.
But not our abundantly helpless MAGA mopes. They’d much rather buy the same overly expensive shit over and over again in the hope of getting a better price because all they really want to do is bitch and moan about how bad life is and how every Democrat is out to get them.
When I tell them my grocery bill has actually gone down in the post-plague era, their heads collectively explode which can be fun to watch. It’s so simple, too.
It starts with buying the similar quality store brand which often costs half as much as the national brand. If that doesn’t work, switch to a less expensive option. Who knew that Country Bobs was better than A1? Check the weekly stores ads for their loss leaders and stock up whenever you get the chance. Jewel’s prices aren’t very good, but their sales are great. And if all that fails, make your own!
With the sage advice of former Kane County board member Terry Bermes, our tomato crop has been hard to keep up with. Much to my friend Judy Ritter’s hilarious dismay, when a 10 lb. box of Milk Bone dog treats shot up by 42 percent, I started making my own for less than a third of the cost. C’mon! All we’re talking about is flour, water, powdered milk, and margarine. I don’t understand why my dogs like them so much.
When the penurious Spice World people ill-advisedly raised the price of a 32-ounce jar of minced garlic to 10 bucks, I got the garlic peeler and mini-food processor and made my own. Oh! And it’s right back down to $6.99 a jar, but now that they trained me well, I won’t be buying their product anytime soon. So much for inflation, right?
I’m sure there’s some inflation involved in those grocery store markups, but as the post-pandemic dust clears, it’s become abundantly clear that a great many food product producers thought they could get away with a classic case of opportunistic price gouging, which certainly ain’t Joe Biden’s fault. If you don’t believe me, then perhaps you’ll believe Kroger Senior Director for Pricing, Andy Groff, who testified as such to the Federal Trade Commission. And Kroger is the largest grocery concern in the country, too.
But that kind of blatant reality never stopped the Maga meatheads from following Agent Orange’s lead and making it up as they go along. And the fact that some of the smarter Facebook folks lap it up certainly does not bode well for the Republic. My great grandmother used to say that, if it was on TV, it had to be true and there seems to be a current parallel with social media. C’mon! The last time a gallon of OJ was $1.29 I was in high school!
Like I said, my grocery bills have actually gone down and the MAGA morons are just gonna have to deal with it!
