OPINION:
Little consideration has been given to the effect that cumulative inflation — driven by an energy policy intended to increase energy costs — has on the ability of the poor to buy food.
I was a child from a single-parent household headed by a widowed mother who did not have a high school education, and we survived by scouring through the weekly supermarket ads to see what we could afford to eat. We ate whatever the loss leaders were on any particular week.
Despite surveys reflecting a 20% or 25% increase in food prices, the real world of the poor deals with fewer sale promotions and fewer loss leaders for basic items (those the impoverished actually buy). Most digital coupons are for pricey, trendy foods inappropriate for purchase or consumption at poverty level.
Before the inflationary spiral, a 1-pound block of mozzarella cheese was regularly offered in my area at a sale price of $1.99. More recently, that same block of cheese might have been offered for $2.99, but it is currently being offered for $3.99 in weekly sales promotions, reflecting a 100% price increase to the subsistence consumer.
Despite politicians engaging in accusations of price gouging over food essentials, supermarkets work on profit margins of 1% to 2%.
WILLIAM T. FIDURSKI
Clark, New Jersey
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