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Comment by Hasz | Hacker News Reader

I feel like I am living in a different universe to the author. My beef still costs around $5/lb, my milk is still roughly $3/gal, similar on a lot of staples I buy regularly. My shirts cost about $5 for a t-shirt, and my jeans cost $20 or so. I spend 80% at Costco and 20% at King Soopers (Kroger).

Ancedota I know, but the author is writing like Big Business has 100% coverage of the whole market.

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The article contains 31 references. Of course, no report on the _general_ market trends are going to cover every anecdote in the US. It could be that the staples you mentioned aren't affected to the same degree. How about your non-staples? How about cars? Houses? Vacation expenses?

In fact, your comment could be read as the exception that proves the rule: you haven't been affected by rising costs because you stick to staples and avoid "frivolous" purchases (that is, you live frugally, as suggested by the article).

Most of the references are not to actual price data, eg CPI basket of goods, so here is the actual link.

https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-price-index/consumer-pri...

Energy stands out as actually being noteworthy, but is not discussed in the article compared to food, consumer goods. It is pretty inelastic for most people, especially gas/diesel.

Cattle herds are at historic lows to the point that meat packers have closed a handful of facilities, laid off thousands, and still have excess capacity. Your beef prices are either not accurate or not representative of the macro.

Is America Falling Out of Love With Beef? Surging prices are finally hurting demand for the country’s favorite meat - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-08-21/after-... | https://archive.today/2K1Rh - August 21st, 2026

Skyrocketing Beef Prices Finally Have Americans Reaching Their Spending Limit - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-16/skyrocket... | https://archive.today/9AYzx - August 16th, 2026

Tyson to Close More Beef Plants as Cattle Shortage Drags On - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-13/tyson-to-... | https://archive.today/KYI6P - August 13th, 2026

Define "beef"? My beef is $20/lb for flank!

https://www.macrotrends.net/4487/us-steak-prices

Sincere question: where are you buying beef for $5/lb? I shop at Costco and ground beef is close to $10/lb

I think the only beef you can find for $5/lb is the ground beef that comes pre-weighed in sealed tubes -not at the meat counter.

all 88/12 ground. Choice sirloin is $8/lb. Boneless chicken breast is $2.5/lb.

Beef on craiglist (1/4, 1/2 or whole) is averaging $6-12/lb for mostly grass fed beef raised <50 miles from me.

When the general pop talks about beef prices they’re not referring to premium beef (organic, grass fed) they are talking about 80/20 at working class retailers.

I'm in the midwest, and 1lb 73/27 ground beef rolls are $6.44. Even 80/20 rolls don't drop below $7 unless on sale.

If I want to get $5/lb ground beef, I have to stick to 73/27 rolls, and they have to be 5lb or larger.

I have started seeing beef/pork mixes for $4/lb, but alas, those are not to my taste.

Americans buy beef in a roll? I had to look this up.

In oz I have only seen this kind of packaging for pet food or lunch meat (colloquially 80/20 in this case would probably refer to the meat to sawdust ratio).

Otherwise prices in Australia are similar but for beef mince from the supermarket meat counter.

The pre-packaged rolls/tubes are the cheap option -most but not all supermarkets have them. All supermarkets have a meat counter with fresh meats. Obviously the fresh meats are more expensive and of course aged meats are way more expensive.

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