Soaring prices for some groceries and persistently high prices for everything at the store continue to squeeze the conditions of life for working people, every time they have to stop by the supermarket to get goods. While monthly price rises have slowed somewhat from what they were a couple years ago, they’re still going up — by 31% over the past six years.
And for most items, these prices are not coming down, despite years of lofty promises by capitalist politicians from both parties that they will solve the problem.
“First, shoppers squeezed by inflation began ditching name-brand snacks and drinks in favor of lower-price store brands,” a March 4 Wall Street Journal article said. “But now, with costs for coffee, eggs and other basic grocery items surging, consumers are cutting out many cheaper items as well.” But there is no such thing as “consumers.” The world the capitalist ruling families and their middle-class hangers-on live in is markedly different than what faces working people.
The article focused on TreeHouse Foods, the largest supplier of store-branded items on the shelves of retail giants like Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Target. The company employs some 7,500 workers at 26 production facilities across the U.S. and Canada. Today its bosses are pushing to maintain profit levels through more speedup with fewer workers and other cuts to its workforce.
Sales of TreeHouse products, which include pickles, candy, nondairy creamer and in-store bakery goods, slowed from a 4.5% rise in the first three months of 2024 to just 0.6% increase over the last three months of the year.
“Most Americans can’t afford life anymore — and they just don’t matter to the economy like they once did,” headlined an unbelievably cynical and pro-boss article in the March 7 MarketWatch.
It goes on to describe how “most Americans” are class-divided, facing vastly different realities. “A whopping 55% of those in the bottom third on the American income scale say they are doing worse than they were five years ago,” while “some 63% of families in the top third of incomes say they are better off.”
The fact of the matter is the inflation rate for necessities working people need is about twice as high as overall inflation, MarketWatch said. This is part of the way the capitalist rulers’ deepening economic crisis is imposed on working people today.
Grinding on workers in New York
The vast majority of workers in New York say the cost of food has risen faster than their income over the past year, a recent survey reports. It says 53% of residents in the city report their family’s debt has risen as food prices continue to rise. Many have no choice but to put these basic expenses on their credit cards, which just increases the debt they owe to big banks that jack up the interest rates on unpaid balances.
Another indication of the squeeze working people face is the record number of early withdrawals they’ve been forced to make from 401(k) retirement funds, in order to prevent foreclosures or evictions, or to cover outstanding auto loans, medical bills and mounting credit card debt. Anyone making these withdrawals must pay income tax on them, plus a 10% penalty if they’re younger than 59 years old.
These 401(k) plans have been imposed on workers by the bosses in order to get rid of defined pension benefits. But 401(k) schemes are a big gamble. These funds are invested in stocks and other speculative endeavors, as capitalism’s crisis leads to more gyration in these markets, posing big questions about what will be left for workers and their families.
These conditions are feeding the recent increase in strike battles in the U.S., and fueling discussion about what can be done. “The Socialist Workers Party says the unions need to fight for a reduction in the workweek with no reduction in pay to keep workers on the jobs,” Joanne Kuniansky, SWP candidate for governor of New Jersey, told the Militant. “And for cost-of-living clauses in all union contracts and government programs like Social Security to match rising prices. In the long run, the only real solution is for working people to organize in their millions to take political power and reorganize society in our class interests.”