Ernest Hemingway once described bankruptcy as a thing that happens “gradually, then suddenly.”
As a family man, that’s the way I feel about inflation.
I had my “suddenly” moment last week while buying groceries. I reached for my usual container of coffee, looked at the price and my jaw dropped. When did 22.6 ounces of coffee start selling for $17.49? In my mind, it should be $9.95 — and even that seems high.
I’m from a generation of people who think that no single item at a supermarket should cost $17.49, except for maybe a party pack of rib-eyes.
At the store, I backed away from the coffee shelf. Maybe I was seeing the price wrong, I thought. Or maybe I was getting punked on “Candid Camera.”