The Price of a Half Dozen Eggs at a Local Grocery Chain is Over $5.49.

A Stouffer’s Frozen Dinner that Had Sold for $3.99 for a Long Period of Time Just Went up to $4.07 Recently.

The Rising Price of Gas is Scary for Many, Especially Those on a Fixed Income.  A Nearby Gas Station is Selling Gas for .10 Less Than This Price on the East End of Portland.

Shoppers in several food stores in the Portland area expressed concern about the continuing rise in food and gas prices, despite reports that the rate of inflation is easing – according to a recent article in “The New York Times.”

“The price of eggs is absurd.  I have a two year old daughter and she eats a lot of eggs,” said Crystal HIll while she was shopping this afternoon at a local grocery chain.

“I’m really concerned about the price of milk and eggs,” said Mary Merrison, 70, an east end resident and Portland native.  “I stopped buying eggs about a month ago because of the price of them. I’m on a fixed income so these rising prices really make it scary.”  She believes that some industries like the gas companies know that seniors on fixed incomes just got a hefty raise in their social security checks.  So, they are raising prices because of that.

Despite the on-going concerns of shoppers like the aforementioned two shoppers, the goals of the Commerce Departments appear to being met according to an article in the Saturday, January 28, 2023 issue of “The New York Times.”  The goal is to cut down on inflation by encouraging consumers to cut back on spending because of rising prices while decreasing inflation.

The article said that consumer spending fell in November and December of 2022 because shoppers are withdrawing from the market place out of concern of a recession later this year and savings that are dwindling.  Inflation is easing as well because it rose 5 percent last year – higher than desired, but less than the pace in more than a year.  As anyone who has paid attention knows, the Feds have aggressively raised interest rates anticipating it will encourage shoppers to buy less wih the resulting effect of lowering price increases.  According to the same piece, consumer prices rose .01% in December for the second month in a row.  Consumer spending fell 0.2% in December – trending in the desirable direction sought by the Feds.

But cutting back on food and gas – that’s a problem for many.