It seems absurd that many people, including some nationally-known writers, spent much of yesterday, litigating the cost of ingredients to make chicken soup.
But when you think about the dynamics of Twitter/X specifically, and social media in general, one can see that this was inevitable.
Twitter/X wants content, so it encourages stream-of-consciousness conversational posting like this:
“Man, I can’t believe how much I had to pay for groceries” is probably one of the most banal conversational observations one can make.
But, of course there is context. And McArdle posted this on Twitter instead of telling her husband or a friend, so that context matters.
This content is:
There is a presidential election next year.
The likely candidates are the incumbent president who most online elites find generally acceptable, and Donald Trump, who they consider a fascist.
Therefore this is considered “the most important election ever” since the last one.
Elections often hinge on voter sentiment about the economy.
Metrics on the economy are improving.
Consumer sentiment about the economy has not caught up to the metrics.
Thus, the narrative has developed that customer sentiment is about “vibes” being pushed by the media hyping up gloomy economic data, and thus any discouraging words about the economy must be countered.
To be fair, the quoted tweet seems like it was engineered in a lab to bring about an angry response. It includes luxury items like filet mignon and lobster tails, perhaps the most unhealthy appetizer offered by a national chain, delivery fees, and comes from a chain restaurant medial elites might consider tacky. So, to stretch a metaphor, there’s a lot of meat on the bone for those inclined to question those costs.
And a lot of people are so inclined. If there is one thing people love doing, it’s suggesting that those who complain about grocery prices are just too lazy to put in the effort to save money Or have too many kids. Or too may pets. Or have too precious tastes. Etc. May as well complain about how long it take to get to the airport.
But this kind of misses the point. If your baseline lifestyle was to order lobster tails from Doordash, and now you need to adjust, then that is worse. It doesn’t matter if this lifestyle was unhealthy or extravagant. If you weren’t clipping coupons before, someone shouting at you to clip coupons when you complain about high prices isn’t going to make you feel better.
If most of these shopping “hacks” were adopted my a greater number of people, they wouldn’t work anymore. If everyone clipped coupons, the stores would respond by making them less generous. If everyone bought whole chickens rather than thighs, the prices would move to make them more comparable. Hacking around inflation doesn’t scale.
Another note is that McArdle’s bill was high in part because she was making soup from scratch as part of a low salt diet for high blood pressure. I would venture that almost every household include one family member with a health issue or ethical concern that makes a strategy of always buying the least expensive option unworkable.
It is indeed strange to see the political side that has been warning us about the impact of our consumer activities on cruel factory farming processes and climate change to be yelling at people to drive across town and buy the cheapest meat available.
But then, I’m not so sure this is about getting to the bottom of grocery costs anyway, as much as it is about making it clear that posting an observation about high prices will be punished with a series of annoyances so people will think twice. Social media encourages people to post conversationally, but then there are people who treat every tweet as if it's a published textbook.
I’m not a huge Biden booster, but my moderately informed opinion is that this inflation, while painful, was the least bad of bad options on how the economy would recover from the pandemic-related shutdowns. It’s a result of the stimulus that was put out to keep families and businesses afloat.
Maybe it was too much. But I’d prefer a period of elevated inflation (which seems to be back under control) than double-digit unemployment.
In other words, I think the administration has a case, and a debate about this would be helpful. But instead, we have demands to produce the receipts when someone notes that groceries to make chicken soup cost more than they used to. And it makes me doubt how much confidence the administration’s supporters have in that case.