Food inflation is still hitting Americans hard. The latest consumer price index report showed supermarket inflation running well above the old “normal.” Ditto restaurant inflation.

The pain is most noticeable in the produce section, where the past six months have been marked by a succession of price spikes in tomatoes, lettuce and currently apples. Before that, it was coffee, beef and, for a real throwback, eggs. These events can feel idiosyncratic: The lettuce crop was hit by a heat wave in Arizona (driving up prices before Cyclospora drove them down); beef prices were pushed up by the New World screwworm cattle parasite; and Florida’s tomato crop was hit by a cold snap.

But it’s no coincidence that these “one-off” force-majeure-type episodes suddenly seem so frequent and quickly reflected in prices. A litany of bad policy decisions from the Trump administration has made the producers and purveyors of these products more susceptible to the shocks that nature inevitably hoists upon us. And once passed on, corporations are loath to bring prices back down after the shock fades.

Each new episode heaps pressure on households, which report becoming more price sensitive about their groceries. It’s death by a thousand cuts for an American public that’s been digging into savings to sustain spending after more than five years of high inflation. Those on lower incomes have been further burdened by a cutback in federal food assistance through President Donald Trump’s signature budget package.

It helps explain why Americans feel despondent about the economy, despite strong corporate profits and a booming stock market, and why the cost of living........

© The Japan Times