Joe Biden Explains Why Rising Food Prices Remind Him Of His Father In State Of The Union Address
If you've been thinking recently that food prices are going up, you're not wrong. Produce may be more expensive in 2022, and grocery prices already broke a record earlier this year. Aside from price increases, you might have also noticed that some supermarket shelves look a little bare. Meat shortages have happened multiple times, and chicken wings have also gone up in price.
In his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden talked about inflation, and he briefly touched on rising food prices. According to Politico's live transcript of the speech, Biden said, "I understand, like many of you did, my dad had to leave his home in Scranton, Pennsylvania to find work. Or, like many of you, I grew up in [a] family where the price of food went up, it had an impact."
According to a New York Times article from 2008, Biden's father was a used-car salesman in Scranton, Pennsylvania and also worked for a heating and cooling company. After mentioning his father, Biden went on to talk about the American Rescue Plan, a piece of legislation that's come in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in an attempt to boost the economy.
Why have food prices been rising?
Wondering what exactly is the cause of your grocery bill's increases? There's more than one reason for increasing food prices, and The New York Times reports that these causes range from problems with the supply chain to bad weather conditions.
Time explains that some employees aren't working because of harmful working conditions and low wages. In 2021, Kellogg's workers went on strike and ended up getting a new contract with higher wages. Droughts in China mean that prices for certain grains have gone up — but according to Time, there's another reason that food prices have been increasing that isn't related to the pandemic or weather events. Your high grocery bill could be due to the fact that just a few companies control the food market, and these companies are raising costs for consumers. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission is looking into Walmart, Tyson, and other companies for this reason.
Increasing food prices are a major issue for many people in the United States, but there are still ways you can save money on your next grocery shopping trip.