Switching from an item or service to a lower-priced item or service doesn’t register in the inflation statistics, yet Americans increasingly resort to such workarounds because their dollars don’t go as far as they used to. From Bill Rice Jr. at oftwominds.com:
t’s the list of workarounds – always growing, never shrinking – that’s telling us the true story of inflation in America.
Today I’m publishing a guest post by writer Bill Rice, Jr., on “real inflation,” which as everyone knows far exceeds the “official” inflation rate of 2%. Bill and I corresponded earlier this year when he was researching and writing his recent article What Does Your Toilet Paper Have to Do With Inflation? Manufacturers have been engaging in “shrinkflation,” leaving consumers paying more for less, but stealthily. (The American Conservative magazine)
Bill’s extensive list of links (50 Dots…) follows his essay. Thank you, Bill, for sharing your insightful research with Of Two Minds readers.
‘Workarounds’ galore: How real Americans deal with ‘real’ inflation By Bill Rice, Jr.
While working on a story on inflation and shrinkflation, I quickly zeroed in on the concept of “workarounds” as an alternative, perhaps superior, way to gauge the true state of our economy. I define workarounds as the changes individuals or families (or businesses) must make in their daily living to adapt to a world of rising prices. If nothing else, these examples, taken in the aggregate, challenge the conventional wisdom that inflation is “low” or “contained,” or that the economy is just fine, thank you.
As decades have passed, the list of workarounds families have utilized to deal with rising prices has rapidly grown.
