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Joe Biden doesn’t have it in him to do a softball Super Bowl interview. But he did have the time to go on a rant about Shrinkflation. And it was a comical dumpster fire.
Here’s how the media is spinning this Shrinkflation rant.
Joe Biden doesn’t want corporate greed to eat into your Super Bowl snack spread.
In a video posted Sunday to X, formerly known as Twitter, the president called on companies to put a stop to “shrinkflation.”
~Snip
Shrinkflation is a widespread practice where businesses offer less product without reducing the price accordingly. It’s a common cost-saving tactic during periods of inflationary pressure. While inflation has slowed down to a three-year low, prices are still punishingly high for many Americans, who have found themselves getting consistently less for their buck when shopping for essentials like groceries.
“There is no denying that shrinkflation is real and that it is having a measurable impact on family budgets,” concluded a December report published by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
That’s from CNN, who believes we deplorable rubes around the country don’t understand the cause and effect of what inflation does not only to our bottom line, but to the costs of manufacturing the products Americans purchase.
Newsweek also explained with a side of “Republicans Pounce!” attitude.
Meanwhile, shrinkflation has been a growing issue over the past few years despite inflation appearing to be slowing. In December, Senator Bob Casey released a report that showed the impact of smaller product sizes. The report noted that household paper products were 34.9 percent more expensive per unit than they were in January 2019, with about 10.3 percent of the increase due to producers shrinking the sizes of rolls and packages. In addition, the report showed the price of snacks like Oreos and Doritos had gone up 26.4 percent over the same period, with shrinking portions accounting for 9.8 percent of the increase.
Again, if the costs of the goods that manufacturers buy to make Oreos, Doritos, and the packaging of said chips and cookies goes up, and the costs to transport them to the stores goes up, then the price goes up. If that also means the packaging is going to shrink in order to try and keep a lid on the production costs, then the companies will do that. It’s that simple.
Yet, Biden is here to tell us that it’s not HIS fault that we have shrinkflation. It’s corporate greed and how dare they react to his brilliant economic policies??!!
Joe Biden has had a very bad week, so one would think he and his handlers would decide it’s better off to take the L and hunker down in his basement for a little while. But noooo… the dim bulbs running the Administration thought a rant blaming everyone else for shrinkflation was just the ticket!
Behold:
While you were Super Bowl shopping, did you notice smaller-than-usual products where the price stays the same?
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 11, 2024
Folks are calling it Shrinkflation and it means companies are giving you less for every dollar you spend.
I’m calling on the big consumer brands to put a stop to it. pic.twitter.com/wL1NsEh78F
I don’t even want to know how long it took to get 48 seconds of “it’s not MY fault things still cost a lot and we are getting less for what we buy!” in place.
Because Joe’s policies whether the Democrats want to admit it or not are directly responsible for the shrinking products we see on our shelves! As Steve over at Powerline notes, Biden’s inflation prediction for the consumer price index in 2021 was massively out of step with reality. Not The Bee points out a couple more hard truths.
Since President Biden took office, that first number has risen 17.5%. That means producers in the marketplace – the companies and businesses making the consumables that we purchase – have seen their costs of making products raise 17.5% over what they had been in the Trump years. That second number has risen 17.1%. To be sure, an over 17% hike in inflation on citizens and families represents inexcusable economic leadership.
But make sure to note that according to the actual numbers, businesses are actually protecting consumers from an additional .4% increase in their out-of-pocket expenses in an effort to maintain their customer base in these tough economic times. Perhaps that sacrifice explains why the Biden administration’s own numbers reveal that corporate profits have fallen consistently for six straight quarters.
Those numbers aren’t good. And no matter the spin, the policies of the Biden Administration can be directly tied to them.
BIDEN: "Costs have fallen from everything from a gallon of gas to a gallon of milk!"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 12, 2024
He's lying. Overall costs are up 17.3% under Biden while gas prices remain ~30% higher than when Biden took office. pic.twitter.com/PS6qdNNx9j
We have a very serious national security issue regarding our southern AND our northern borders. We have a major increase in crime across the United States, no actual NEW jobs have been added to the job rolls, people are in debt, he’s trying to throw Israel under the bus while propping up Ukraine, there are huge very realistic concerns about Joe’s cognitive abilities, so what do they do? Trot Joe out to tell the world that none of this is his fault.
The Biden Administration is a disaster, and shrinkflation is just one significant symptom of that disaster.
https://twitter.com/Capitalist_Mike/status/1756782899809181806
Yes, we are in the Carter Years 2.0 right now. Instead of dealing with shrinkflation at the grocery store, can we shrink the Biden Administration ASAP?
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Rudy says: I understand the context of the article regarding the president’s emphasis on shrinkflation. Yes, it’s odd to rant about it, but the president has caused it with his actions from day one. He owns it and is trying to hide from his ill-advised behavior. However, shrinkflation IS bad when you consider what has to happen when a manufacturer reduces a package size rather than simply increasing the wholesale price of an item. You have to change the nutrition labeling, which means paying and applying for a new label from the gov’t. There is a cost to this. Then you have to relay the new information to the retailers, who, in turn, have to input a new item regarding price and package count and how many items are on a pallet, etc. (How many cases of an item fit on a pallet is critical information for retailer warehouses.) There are expenses involved with this – for the respective warehouses – the costs of which they pass on to the manufacturer. Then consider the extra labor involved for stocking the shelves (more boxes to open for the same shelf space), changing the item shelf price tags, re-allocating shelf space, changing planograms, etc. To some degree, the chips manufacturers are immune to this as they stock the items for the stores. Still, at every turn in this process there are added costs, which are multiplied when you consider that everything runs on markups and percentages. It’s like compound interest in reverse.
Virtually all of this could be prevented if the manufacturers would just change the darn price, but they’re too afraid that someone, somewhere might complain. I cry BS. We all know what inflation and price increases are. I have called out manufacturers on this and have had them admit it’s simply a price increase in disguise. It’s obfuscation and it’s insulting. Heaven forbid we should know what something costs!
I don’t know about the whole country, but here in Arizona, stores have for years been required to post the price per “common unit” on their tags and labels. I taught my very young children how to TRULY compare prices between brands that way.
By the way, if it weren’t for the practice of “shrinkflation,” the populace would be even more up in arms about the price increases. (Not that the companies do it to bail out the Federal Reserve – they’re just looking at the intersection between the lines of cost, price, and demand curves to maximize their tiny margins.)
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