Dean Baker writes: “The gist of the piece is that the economy is so bad that people can no longer afford to eat at McDonald’s.”
The NPR reporter says: “Prices at restaurants keep rising faster than at the grocery store. In fact, some grocery prices are declining, while a fast food dinner is double digits.”
Baker writes: “Instead of reporting this as a positive development for consumers, NPR presents it as yet one more bad economy story.”
The reporter says: “So the chain is trying to get people to think of it once again as a bargain, which includes a marketing push for deals. … And the $5 value meal is now staying on longer through the summer.”
Dean Baker writes: “The gist of the piece is that the economy is so bad that people can no longer afford to eat at McDonald’s.”
The NPR reporter says: “Prices at restaurants keep rising faster than at the grocery store. In fact, some grocery prices are declining, while a fast food dinner is double digits.”
Baker writes: “Instead of reporting this as a positive development for consumers, NPR presents it as yet one more bad economy story.”
The reporter says: “So the chain is trying to get people to think of it once again as a bargain, which includes a marketing push for deals. … And the $5 value meal is now staying on longer through the summer.”
As restaurant prices spiked faster than other food inflation, McDonald’s sales declined, so it is trying to win back customers by offering them new deals.
“The economy is so bad that …”? Didn’t see it. “Instead of reporting this as a positive development for consumers …”? Saw it.
"In fact, some grocery prices are declining, while a fast food dinner is double digits.”
the first half implies a negative inflation rate for some groceries. what is the second half telling me? inflation rate? total increase since ????
Yes, either the script or the reporter’s delivery, if she misread it, could have been clearer. I took her to mean double-digit inflation.
For some reason, Baker cited McDonald’s gross profits, which don’t account for operating expenses or taxes, rather than net income, which is the standard measure of corporate profit. By my calculation from its quarterly reports, McDonald’s 12-month net income in March grew even faster than its gross profits since the end of 2019 — 41%.
While testifying to a Federal Trade Commission attorney Tuesday, Kroger’s Senior Director for Pricing Andy Groff said the grocery giant had raised prices for eggs and milk beyond inflation levels.
“This is not at all surprising,” Drew Powers, the founder of Illinois-based Powers Financial Group, told Newsweek. “Companies across multiple industries have been posting record profits since the COVID-19 crisis while consumers have faced the highest inflation in recent history. The math can only point to companies raising prices above the general level of inflation. As the old saying goes, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.'”
The questioning came during a court hearing for Kroger’s FTC suit after the retail giant announced it would be acquiring top grocery competitor Albertsons.
Groff said Kroger intends to “pass through our inflation to consumers,” after an internal email from the executive showed that the price of eggs and milk routinely surpassed what inflation would require for the chain to still make profits.
“On milk and eggs, retail inflation has been significantly higher than cost inflation,” Groff said in the internal email to other Kroger executives.
The moral of the story is never listen to WaPo editorials about economics.
And this is precisely why we need robust antitrust enforcement. The old market will drive prices down just doesn't hold in monopolistic situations like this. Based upon this testimony alone, the Kroger's-Albertson's merger should be blocked.
The destruction of anti-trust enforcement is one of the most damaging legacies of Reagan, and then, unfortunately, taken up by the neo-liberal policies promoted by Clinton and then Obama. Biden has finally started a reversal of this with the appointment of Lisa Kahn to the FTC, but Harris is getting a lot of pressure to get rid of her. It would be nice if she would come out in strong support of her. It certainly would be better for her, election-wise, then coming out for a wealth tax.
Guess what? Inflation is over! According to Fox News, anyway:
Inflation itself hasn't changed over the past couple of weeks, but for some reason Fox News doesn't seem to care about it anymore. Here's a longer look: Sadly, the Internet Archive suffered some technical difficulties right before the election, so the series is interrupted. But as you can see, for months and months Fox hosts were obsessed with inflation, mentioning it 10 to 20 times a day. This week it's down to two or three.
Remarkable, no? Inflation has been running around 3% for more than a year but it remained vitally newsworthy anyway the whole time. Until November 6.
Guess what? Inflation is over! According to Fox News, anyway:
Inflation itself hasn't changed over the past couple of weeks, but for some reason Fox News doesn't seem to care about it anymore. Here's a longer look: Sadly, the Internet Archive suffered some technical difficulties right before the election, so the series is interrupted. But as you can see, for months and months Fox hosts were obsessed with inflation, mentioning it 10 to 20 times a day. This week it's down to two or three.
Remarkable, no? Inflation has been running around 3% for more than a year but it remained vitally newsworthy anyway the whole time. Until November 6.
it's one thing for Fox News to focus on inflation. The NYT and other mainstream outlets' fixation on inflation was far more damaging. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the media's hyper focus on inflation, and failure to put it into any kind of context is what elected Trump.
it's one thing for Fox News to focus on inflation. The NYT and other mainstream outlets' fixation on inflation was far more damaging. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the media's hyper focus on inflation, and failure to put it into any kind of context is what elected Trump.
yeah, given the margin of victory it certainly could be the case. and not just inflation, but the economy in general. don't know if you read Dean Baker, but he follows economic misreporting closely and constantly has examples from the MSM. I'm not sure if he even bothers with Fox. Misreporting from them is just a given.
and, Drum also is reporting that the sentiment on the economy among R's is already on the upswing.
In just the past two weeks, the share of Republicans who say their personal finances are worse than a year ago has plummeted by 14 percentage points. Apparently our long national nightmare of strong growth and low unemployment is finally over.
it's one thing for Fox News to focus on inflation. The NYT and other mainstream outlets' fixation on inflation was far more damaging. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the media's hyper focus on inflation, and failure to put it into any kind of context is what elected Trump.
yeah, given the margin of victory it certainly could be the case. and not just inflation, but the economy in general. don't know if you read Dean Baker, but he follows economic misreporting closely and constantly has examples from the MSM. I'm not sure if he even bothers with Fox. Misreporting from them is just a given.
and, Drum also is reporting that the sentiment on the economy among R's is already on the upswing.
In just the past two weeks, the share of Republicans who say their personal finances are worse than a year ago has plummeted by 14 percentage points. Apparently our long national nightmare of strong growth and low unemployment is finally over.
not just the margin, but the fact that "the economy" was among the top reasons for voting, as cited in exit polls.
just the fact that the reporting kept hammering the point "worst inflation in 40 years!" was incredibly frustrating. Considering about half the population wasn't even alive 40 years ago to remember how bad it was, this framing made inflation sound even worse than it was. In 2021-22 inflation rose quickly to over 9%, and then receded just as quickly.
compare that to the late 70s - early '80s when inflation soared to over 14% and was at double digits for over two years. It could be argued that was the worst bout of inflation in the country's history. Even the severe post WWII inflation lasted only a year or so. Those of us who are old enough to remember know it was far worse than what we lived through after COVID.
To suggest the 2022 inflation could be compared to the disastrous history of the early '80s was just irresponsible.
Maybe the coverage itself wasn't as influential as the prices people experienced at the grocery story. But the coverage certainly didn't make people think there was any relief from price increases on the horizon, even though there was.
Also bad, imo, the reporting on "high" mortgage interest rates (today, 7.4% per NPR).
Not high, back to normal! History: In 1982, for first house, i felt fortunate to be able to assume a loan at 14%. Going rate for new loans was around 18%, and they weren't lending even at that rate. 1986 to 1995, rates were 10, 9, and 8; then maybe a little lower for refi sometime between 1995 and 2000 or so?
Everyone (except savers) has been so spoiled by the extended rock-bottom rates following 2007-08 crash. At least the business reporters could have shown a little perspective about what "high" is.
drummerboy quotes Kevin Drum: "In just the past two weeks, the share of Republicans who say their personal finances are worse than a year ago has plummeted by 14 percentage points. Apparently our long national nightmare of strong growth and low unemployment is finally over."
How can this be the result of anything but not having it pounded into their heads by F hour after hour, day after day? with scary messages at the bottom of the screen just in case the sound is turned down
President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he will issue executive orders imposing new tariffs on all imported goods from China, Mexico and Canada, the nation’s three largest trading partners, as one of his first acts on Inauguration Day.
Trump said the tariffs of 25 percent on Mexican and Canadian goods, and 10 percent on Chinese merchandise would be aimed at halting an “invasion” of drugs and migrants into the United States.
Dean Baker writes: “The gist of the piece is that the economy is so bad that people can no longer afford to eat at McDonald’s.”
The NPR reporter says: “Prices at restaurants keep rising faster than at the grocery store. In fact, some grocery prices are declining, while a fast food dinner is double digits.”
Baker writes: “Instead of reporting this as a positive development for consumers, NPR presents it as yet one more bad economy story.”
The reporter says: “So the chain is trying to get people to think of it once again as a bargain, which includes a marketing push for deals. … And the $5 value meal is now staying on longer through the summer.”