This does seem like "Sky blue and water wet" sort of reporting, but that's just because of the daft headline. When most people are challenged with affording the basics, that points to a severe economic risk. We've lived through a period of incredibly cheap credit due to where we are in the monetary cycle of the USD as a reserve currency. We sort of brought it on ourselves though, given the vicious cycle of buying cheap junk we don't need on credit, and then the parties selling us that cheap junk buying our debt. We're overdue for some considered and precise deleveraging. Without it, this problem will only get a lot worse.
Protip: look for an Asian market in your area for food. I get an entire shopping cart full of food for $60-100 and that lasts for ~2 weeks.
When I go to Publix (or any other grocery store), I get like 2-3 bags for $60...
Discovering the Asian market has been one of the best financial things to happen to me. Although I'm not really sure how their prices are so low. If someone could answer, that would be awesome!
I don't care if it saves me money, I'm not giving my hard earned cash to Walmart/Kroger/Albertsons/OtherMegaCorp. Not to mention that what they sell at Walmart is mostly unhealthy garbage that I would be a negligent parent if I fed that to my family.
I do make an exception for Costco because from everything I've read they're a pretty standout company as far as treating their employees go, and they curate well. We get some stuff there.
But mostly we shop at small(er) local grocery stores when possible, especially for things like meat, eggs, milk, all of which we can get local (better quality and why ship stuff like that around the world; luckily we're in the PNW). And of course that includes local Asian stores for rice, fresh fish, etc.
We don't buy "fancy" food (no wagyu steaks and the like; we eat a lot of legumes) but we do try to get the healthiest local option when possible (not fanatically so, we're not on Portlandia), and we could probably cut our monthly food bill by at least 30% if we bought the cheapest food at Walmart/Safeway.
So we cut back spending in other ways - rarely eat/drink out, entertainment, etc.
I'm sure we could do better. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that it really costs in both time and money to eat healthy. We're lucky that we can, but it's also a matter of what we prioritize in our spending.
More interesting analysis of where things stand: "Spending is being held up by the wealthy, while consumption from middle and lower income groups continues to fade."
I find it interesting that people worry much more about how much things cost than how much money they make. I would think these two numbers would be much closer together.
The current financial system and various corporations see the majority of consumers like livestock - a kind of resource to be exploited. It's better to be free range organic though, in my humble opinion, but the majority seem to be trending towards battery/cage chickens.
> About half the public identify the cost of groceries as a major source of financial stress.
And some other portion of the population, anecdotally much larger than what I would have thought, orders DoorDash/UberEats regularly, what a stark contrast.
I am in a good financial situation, but I still could never stomach the prices of those apps, $30-40+ for any item once one includes fees and everything. I recently got a promotion through my credit card that led me to take another look at DoorDash, and my local grocery store deli sandwich, which is already very expensive at about $10, would have been $25+ on there.
Yet it’s full of people using them, multiple times a week and for an entire family. I had coworkers casually mention that they spend $2k+/mo on DoorDash orders. It’s one aspect of the American consumerism that always baffles me.
In my country healthcare is not an issue still, and in the countryside where I live housing costs are 'low enough'. But food cost used to be something only students or long term unemployed had to worry about somewhat. Now minimum wage workers and elderly have the same issues I had as a student, and I can't imagine how I would do as a student or as an unemployed. Bank of MomAndDad are probably the only way out. Social mobility should be t it's lowest in decades if I had to guess.
Exactly the things that a well meaning society should provide to its citizens. What's the point of "progress" if we can't provide the basics to the majority?
40 million Americans live below the poverty line of $15,000 per year. [1]
Total U.S. household net worth (excluding real estate) is around $54 trillion. [2]
If every household above the poverty line donated 2.5% of their net worth annually to people living below the poverty line, we could erase poverty instantly.
Here’s the math:
2.5% of $54 trillion = $1.35 trillion
$1.35 trillion ÷ 40 million Americans = $33,750 per person
Understandable. I guess our only recourse is to do austerity / wage suppression about it! See, it’s actually their fault for making too much money and getting too many handouts, or something. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with all the middlemen taking more profits wherever they can squeeze them from. THAT has to keep happening so we can have Good Paying Jobs, see. Also there’s a labor shortage so we need to suppress wages more.
Despite early success I'm truly no closer to stability [in terms of housing]. With the wrong landlords, I'm practically living with Mom/Dad while nearing my 40s. Fiefdom-building isn't helping at all.
I can deal with the responsibility of a leaky roof. I can't deal with another year of No Dogs Allowed.
I encourage everyone to do the following simple exercise:
look at the main stock market in your country, and see how far back you must go for the main index to be half of what it is today. The answer is probably somewhere between 5 and 7 years. Then find salary statistics, and see how much the average salary has increased in the same time. The answer is probably somewhere between 20 and 30%.
And it really is as simple as that. As society we have tremendously increased productivity, and most of it is taken/given to the owner of the capital, not the provider of labour.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 85.2 ms ] threadWhen I go to Publix (or any other grocery store), I get like 2-3 bags for $60...
Discovering the Asian market has been one of the best financial things to happen to me. Although I'm not really sure how their prices are so low. If someone could answer, that would be awesome!
I do make an exception for Costco because from everything I've read they're a pretty standout company as far as treating their employees go, and they curate well. We get some stuff there.
But mostly we shop at small(er) local grocery stores when possible, especially for things like meat, eggs, milk, all of which we can get local (better quality and why ship stuff like that around the world; luckily we're in the PNW). And of course that includes local Asian stores for rice, fresh fish, etc.
We don't buy "fancy" food (no wagyu steaks and the like; we eat a lot of legumes) but we do try to get the healthiest local option when possible (not fanatically so, we're not on Portlandia), and we could probably cut our monthly food bill by at least 30% if we bought the cheapest food at Walmart/Safeway.
So we cut back spending in other ways - rarely eat/drink out, entertainment, etc.
I'm sure we could do better. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that it really costs in both time and money to eat healthy. We're lucky that we can, but it's also a matter of what we prioritize in our spending.
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/08/stock-market-us-economy-ric...
1 out of 7 US inhabitants have food insecurity. And this is a govt website likely to underestimate the statistic
Very easy to end up with hundreds or thousands of dollars in bills if your provider codes something wrong or your insurance denies payment.
Much less an actual medical issue that requires repeated trips to a specialist, an expensive medication (even generic), or hospitalizations.
And some other portion of the population, anecdotally much larger than what I would have thought, orders DoorDash/UberEats regularly, what a stark contrast.
I am in a good financial situation, but I still could never stomach the prices of those apps, $30-40+ for any item once one includes fees and everything. I recently got a promotion through my credit card that led me to take another look at DoorDash, and my local grocery store deli sandwich, which is already very expensive at about $10, would have been $25+ on there.
Yet it’s full of people using them, multiple times a week and for an entire family. I had coworkers casually mention that they spend $2k+/mo on DoorDash orders. It’s one aspect of the American consumerism that always baffles me.
20kg sack of rice is cheap and lasts a while. Flour is cheap. Eggs are cheap Potatoes Canned tuna
Etc
A lot of those who complain about groceries could swap out what they would rather have until times improve.
40 million Americans live below the poverty line of $15,000 per year. [1]
Total U.S. household net worth (excluding real estate) is around $54 trillion. [2]
If every household above the poverty line donated 2.5% of their net worth annually to people living below the poverty line, we could erase poverty instantly.
Here’s the math:
2.5% of $54 trillion = $1.35 trillion
$1.35 trillion ÷ 40 million Americans = $33,750 per person
That’s more than double the poverty threshold.
Sources: [1] https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-mo... [2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BOGZ1FL152090045Q
I can deal with the responsibility of a leaky roof. I can't deal with another year of No Dogs Allowed.
look at the main stock market in your country, and see how far back you must go for the main index to be half of what it is today. The answer is probably somewhere between 5 and 7 years. Then find salary statistics, and see how much the average salary has increased in the same time. The answer is probably somewhere between 20 and 30%.
And it really is as simple as that. As society we have tremendously increased productivity, and most of it is taken/given to the owner of the capital, not the provider of labour.