While President Biden might’ve touted an economic “comeback” in his State of the Union address Thursday night, Americans woke up Friday morning still feeling an inflationary hangover.
“We’re going to do groceries now. Every week we go and we spend about $300. I have not seen a change at all. On the contrary, like it’s just going up,” a diner named Iris told FOX Business’ Madison Alworth on “Cavuto: Coast to Coast.”
“We just got a letter at home saying the rent is going to go up. Our insurance just went up, so everything just keeps going up and up and up,” she continued. “I haven’t seen the difference in anything.”
Iris was one of four diners who dished out the harsh reality of Biden’s economy, arguing everyday inflation and sticker shock still exist despite cooling inflation data.
P.A. FOOD SUPPLIER WARNS AMERICANS GETTING SQUEEZED BY INFLATION ARE BECOMING ‘RESISTANT’ TO HIGHER PRICES
And though Biden spun a positive economic angle in his national speech, proclaiming “wages keep going up and inflation keeps coming down,” price data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows why shoppers are right to be concerned.
An examination of just two common grocery list items, eggs and milk, reveals a stark increase in prices from January 2021 to January 2024.
In January 2021, the average U.S. price for a dozen Grade-A eggs in U.S. cities was $1.47. Four years later, that price jumped 52.6% to an average price of $2.52 per dozen. Between those years, the retail price for a dozen eggs peaked at a walloping $4.82 in January 2023.
Another staple household commodity: milk. Three years ago, in January 2021, the average cost for whole milk was $3.47 per gallon in U.S. cities. As of January 2024, the price has climbed 13.2% to $3.96 per gallon.
One Pennsylvania diner noted seeing the same trend with orange juice: “A gallon of orange juice is like $6.80 or around $6, and that’s at Walmart. Like you don’t really expect it to be that,” a woman named Tana also told Alworth.
“I have a home business, I do cookies, and I need a bag to put them in, and I buy the 150-count at Walmart. I used to get them for like $3, now they are like $6.50 or something like that. And it’s plastic,” Tana continued. “It’s never coming down. Nothing comes down.”
Her friend, Marcia, has pricing concerns within America’s real estate market.
“Housing pricing is still high and the interest rates are high. So I don’t know what’s going to give there,” Marcia said. “I don’t see how the economy is good when both of those things are high.”
Iris’ husband Alfonzo, who’s a semi-truck driver, also feels price hikes while on the road.
“Everything’s up. Parking spots, fuel. Everything’s up,” he said. “Wherever you go, you see it.”
In recent weeks, Biden blamed corporations for raising “their prices to pad their profits, charging you more and more for less and less.”
“That’s why we’re cracking down on corporations that engage in price gouging or deceptive pricing from food to health care to housing,” the president said.
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FOX Business’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
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