Trick-or-treaters this Halloween got a rude surprise, as chocolate candy, one of the most popular treats, was in short supply. Nerds Gummy Clusters took its place. The reason? The price of chocolate has soared, like prices for virtually all essentials working people need.
The average cost for 16 ounces of chocolate candy in October was $9.19, nearly 40% higher than five years ago. And kids who still got chocolate bars in their Halloween bags noticed their portions had shrunk.
Despite claims by Democratic Party officials and the liberal capitalist media that the “war” against inflation has been won, stubbornly high prices on groceries, gas, housing, child care, health care and more remain in place and aren’t coming down. This reality weighs harshly on workers and our families.
Prices have soared by about 25% on average since 2019, the government admits. The cost of gas has averaged $3.48 a gallon this year, over 30% more than it was five years ago. In addition, car insurance costs have skyrocketed. The average annual bite is $2,388 today.
Rents are 30% higher than they were five years ago and going up. And the ability to get and hold onto a home is class-divided. Young workers wanting to get out of their parents’ place to live on their own and raise a family face huge obstacles. House prices, as well as mortgage rates, are sky high.
At the same time, because housing prices are going up, the boss class and their upper-middle-class minions have seen the value of their real estate climb.
Brace for higher butter prices
There’s more. “Bakers brace for costly Christmas as butter prices surge,” reported Reuters Oct. 14. In Europe, butter prices are up 83% over last year. In the U.S., the Department of Agriculture projects butter prices rising 15% from 2023.
“A lot of people are having a big, big issue with the cost of food,” Cornelius Walker in Atlanta told the Financial Times Oct. 31. “Groceries are outrageous. Bread used to be $1.50 or something for a loaf. Now everything is like $3-4.”
Reports from the Labor Department show the economy is slowing down. In October just 12,000 jobs were created, a sharp decline in the number of jobs reported to have been added in previous months. In September it was reported to be 223,000 new jobs. The department tried to blame the difference on the impact of hurricanes Helene and Milton, and on the Boeing strike.
But newly announced revisions to the August and September job figures wiped out another 112,000 jobs.
In October, 46,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared, driven by a decline in auto sales and production. This is part of an ongoing drop in industrial jobs. Instead of hiring new workers, bosses look to boost profits by speeding up production for those left on the job, dealing blows to life and limb. Where increases in job rolls were reported, it was in hospitality, education and health, jobs with less pay, insecure hours and fewer benefits.
While the “official” unemployment rate remains at 4.1%, the average number of weeks workers are unemployed has been growing, hitting a two-and-a-half-year high in October. An increasing number of workers today have been out of work for more than six months.