The Price of This Household Item Is Still Cheap

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Oct 25, 11:05AM EDT

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The Price of This Household Item Is Still Cheap — © BlakeDavidTaylor / iStock via Getty Images

Is inflation a serious problem that could damage the economy for several years, or will its effects dissipate before early next year? There are major economists on each side of the debate. These include the chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Jerome Powell, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The two of them make the same argument: inflation will last no longer than into late next year. Enough people are looking for jobs, their argument goes, that wages will not rise substantially.

Prominent economists who argue otherwise include former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who is a well-regarded economist. He said the assumption that inflation could be tamed was false. Government spending to help build jobs after the 2020 recession, and more proposed by the Biden administration, would fund a surge in consumer spending. Troubled supply chains would mean many goods would be in low supply. The formula for sharp inflation is already in place, Summers argues. To make matters worse, he added, many people who left the labor force have retired and will not be back. The “too many workers” view is a myth.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for September supported the alarms of people who believe in the view Summers takes. What consumers pay for goods and services rose 5.4% on an unadjusted basis, compared to September 2020. For some Americans, the numbers were worse.

Take the basics that most people pay money for each month. In September, the price of beef steak rose 22% from the same month last year. The prices of several other types of meat rose by 12% to 19%. Apples rose over 7%, as did chicken. Other notable increases were juices and non-alcoholic drinks, up nearly 4%.
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At the other end of the spectrum, some items remained cheap by the standards of an inflationary world. Among the few items that posted a drop in price from August to September was butter, which was down 1.3%. The price of shellfish fell by the same number. Frankfurter prices declined 1.2%. Frozen vegetables decreased by 1.0%, as did cheese.

Click here to see which household item has a soaring price.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.