Despite the barrage of news stories and pundit commentary you have seen in recent weeks hyping higher grocery and gas prices to scare an Election Day red wave that didn’t land, the fact is those higher consumer prices themselves aren’t all that higher given overall wage increases.
Don’t believe it?
Take a look back to 2002 at a 20-year-old, Nov. 6, 2002, Chattanooga Times Free Press.
On that day, a news story trumpeted Gov.-elect Phil Bredesen winning his election. Another headline announced that Georgia went Republican for both its governor and a U.S. Senate seat. Still another Page 1 story said Lamar Alexander was headed to the U.S. Senate.
› Then-local department store, Proffitts, advertised a four-day sale, including men’s windbreakers for $32.99 and Liz Clayborne handbags for $14.99.
But this week, another department store has seasonal ads offering a similar windbreaker for $29.99 and an updated Liz purse for $17.99. Of course, there are other windbreakers and Liz purses for considerably more.
› Winn Dixie (yes, that grocery store is gone now) offered a boneless chuck roast for $3.49 a pound and boneless skinless chicken breasts for $3.95 a pound.
On Wednesday, we found a similar roast advertised for $5.99 a pound, but the chicken was less — $2.99 a pound.
› The 20-year-old newspaper showed us a generic loaf of bread for 99 cents on special sale.
We found a similar loaf Wednesday for $1.99. But also now there are many more loaves of artisan bread for sale for two and three times that amount.
› Three pounds of sweet potatoes in 2002 were on sale for $1. These days, we find them in online ads for 89 cents a pound. Avocados were 69 cents each in 2002. Today we find we can buy four for $5.
In case you’ve lost track, our 2002 grocery list totals $12.19 vs. this week’s tab of $18.64 — an increase of 52.9%.
Put that way, it sounds really steep, right? And try wrapping your head around this: According to the online U.S. Inflation Calculator, which measures the buying power of the dollar over time, that $12.19 would be $20.19 or a 65.7% cumulative rate of inflation.
If you think that’s a lot of bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, you’re not alone. But there’s more to consider:
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and its Federal Reserve Economic Data (known as FRED), per capita personal income in Hamilton County, Tennessee, in 2002 was $31,040. By 2020, the most recent year available in FRED’s comparison, per capita personal income here was $55,911. That’s an increase of 80.1%. And remember, FRED in this scenario is not an inflation calculator. It’s a census-like recorder of real data.
But in looking at rising costs, let’s not stop with groceries.
Another ad in that 2002 newspaper was for new Chevys. One dealership was hawking a 2003 Trailblazer for $23,175.
Online last week, we found a local Chevrolet dealer pitching new 2023 Chevy Trailblazers with varying trims for marked-out MSRP prices ranging from $25,535 to $28,025 and this all-caps reader: “SALE PRICE CONTACT US.”
Of course, there were other models of Chevys — trendier ones like Silverado and Avalanche pickups — that sky-rocketed in sticker price.
The TFP just reported that Chattanooga gasoline prices were the lowest in the state, and our state is not among the highest for gas prices. In 2002, the nation’s average price of gas was $1.36 a gallon, and it rose pretty steadily until 2012 when it hit $3.64 a gallon. By 2018, it had fallen back to $2.75, and last week in Chattanooga it was $3.16.
As one commentary today notes on the Times Free Press Sunday Perspectives front, inflation is to some extent, always with us.
Prices fluctuate with supply and demand. Goods cost more to produce and deliver. Throw in a pandemic, federal stimulus/relief money, a war and global supply chain challenges. It’s no wonder political parties are eager to exploit our perception of dollars and security. But that doesn’t make it right.
It’s often said that perception is greater than reality, and that may be especially true if we’re hammered day in and day out with gloom and doom GOP talking points.
Certainly higher prices are painful, and some people feel the pain more than others — especially those caught in today’s outrageously rising rental and home ownership costs.
But don’t let Republicans treat inflation the way they’ve treated their lost elections. Repeat, lost — not stolen — elections.
Yes, our Thanksgiving turkeys will be more costly this year, but that’s largely thanks to avian flu, not to President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan or anything else the GOP wants to taint.
Happy shopping. And give to your local food bank to help people whose wages haven’t risen with inflation.