The Porterhouse at Weis Points to Inflation’s Demise
The "elevated prices" narrative that pollsters say underscore Americans' negative view of the Biden economy has passed its sell date.
A relative bargain.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, less than 50 miles from President Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, where unemployment fell to a record-low 2.7% in April, surging consumer prices unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic are now similarly subdued. Weis Markets Inc., the chain of 200 grocers mostly in the Keystone state, earlier this month sold a “choice” Porterhouse steak for $7.99 a pound to one of its regular customers. That would have been a bargain even during the Great Recession 15 years ago.
Not a steak lover? No problem. There are plenty of bargains available at your fingertips - literally. Adobe Inc. said last month that online grocery prices fell 3.7% in August from July, the largest decline since the firm began tracking the numbers in 2014. Thanks in part to big wage gains over the past couple of years, spending on food now makes up just 7.44% of consumer spending, the lowest since before the pandemic in February 2020, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.