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Comment by irdc | Hacker News Reader

Things like food?

Yes food is a great example.

People will pay upwards of $20-$25 to have one meal made and delivered to their home, when really the total cost of the meal is probably a couple bucks.

And then people insist on buying expensive processed crap, when the same thing could be had for far less with just some simple ingredients.

People waste money daily on expensive coffees and sugared waters, when all this probably costs mere pennies to make.

Gross, but people buy it. And often happily!

So people (other people, of course) intentionally paying too much for their food is what's causing 9,5% year-over-year[0] inflation?

I wish I had a witty comeback but I'm honestly just stunned...

0. https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

The problem is a bit like climate change. If everyone is paying these prices, the prices will just keep going up. People just have to stop, but they won’t. You can think of markets as pricing engines, and prices will rise up to what the market can bear. Pretty simple.

That's only true for elastic demand.

Things like branded food (and other branded items). It's insanely expensive and I absolutely don't see or taste a difference that's big enough to warrant x2 or x3 the price.

Yep, $2 for Food Lion brand shredded wheat or $5 for name brand shredded wheat. Not only that but the name brand has had an issue lately with having a lot of burnt tasting pieces. It's only $3 difference but the different in quality (not burnt vs burnt) is crazy.

I guess it's easier to blame greedflation on other people being stupid than admitting that you yourself are being fleeced.

No one is obligated to price things affordably and you are not obligated to buy things you can’t afford.

Oh, thank you for letting me know I'm not obligated to buy food if I can't afford it.

If the price of staples like bread, eggs, milk, etc rise so much that I can't afford to feed my family for the week, it's such a relief to know I'm not obligated to do so!

I'll let them know that from now on, we'll just be eating Lack Of Obligation, which will, I'm sure, be just as tasty and filling as the food we used to be able to buy!

You don’t need to eat those specific things, there are other things to eat. Even cheaper things. Rice has always been very cheap per serving. Beans as well. Just as filling.

Ah! Right, so I should just eat cheap, unhealthy food so that big companies can have ever-increasing profit margins purely to line their execs' pockets. Got it!

Truly, you have opened my eyes. Now it is clear to me that it is right and good that the Freedom of the wealthiest people in our society to increase their dollar-denominated high scores be deemed more important than the ability of the poorest among us to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves.

The biggest lie you have swallowed from the big companies is that cheap food is unhealthy, and you have to buy their expensive food to truly live healthy and righteous. Every week you must go give up a paycheck at Whole Foods to eat healthy and save the planet.

Oh, good! Then the cheap, easy, greasy calories I get at McDonalds are just as good for me as fresh produce, good bread, and high-quality meat!

Man, that's such a relief.

Possibly depends on the location. I'm in Germany, rice, potatoes, pasta, bread haven't really moved, unless you're talking bread made in the local bakery, in which case it has moved because of loans being a larger chunk of the price. Cheese and milk have moved strongly, meat moderately. Of course, Germany has traditionally subsidized food prices, while in the US fuel will be cheaper and taxes are significantly lower. It usually evens out, unless you're in one of the countries where you get shafted on all sides.

But if I was to buy mostly branded food made by Nestle & friends, I'd pay 30+% more easily.

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