this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
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JD Vance was roundly mocked online over a trip to the supermarket where he bemoaned the steep price of eggs — and botched the photo opp.

The Republican vice presidential nominee stopped by a supermarket in Reading, Pennsylvania, with his sons over the weekend to illustrate how grocery prices have been impacted by “Kamala Harris’s policies” when he claimed a dozen eggs cost $4.

The problem? When footage of the visit emerged, Vance was quickly called out by viewers who spotted the price tag of a dozen eggs behind him was actually $2.99.


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[–] tal@lemmy.today 173 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

I mean, I think that he's got a valid broader point that egg prices haven't been great for a couple of years.

However...that's not really due to anything that Biden has done, much less Harris.

A lot of it was due to major avian flu outbreaks:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bird-flu-outbreak-egg-prices-2024/

April 24, 2024

A multi-state outbreak of avian influenza, also known as bird flu, is leading to a jump in the price of eggs around the U.S. — an unhappy reminder for consumers that a range of unforeseen developments can trigger inflation.

As of April 24, a dozen large grade A eggs cost an average of $2.99, up nearly 16% from $2.52 in January, according to federal labor data. The price increase comes as nearly 9 million chickens across Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Texas have been discovered to be infected with bird flu in recent weeks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That is crimping egg supplies, leading to higher prices.

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/egg-prices-rise-bird-flu-farm/

September 9, 2024

LONG LAKE, Minn. — Minnesota shoppers may be experiencing some sticker shock as eggs again emerges as a hot commodity.

According to the USDA, the average wholesale price for a dozen large Grade A eggs reached $4.26 in the Midwest region. That's up $0.09 since last week, but up roughly 20% compared to what was recorded in last summer's consumer price index.

"I'm not surprised by the volatility," Loree Kinney, store director at the Orono Market explained. "There's volatility in milk, there's volatility in dairy products, and in meat. There's not much you can do about the supply and demand."

Indeed, economists have for months pointed to a bird flu outbreak as a key reason for dwindling supplies of eggs across the U.S. coming from major producers.

You can't really lay that much at Harris's feet, though.

I do kind of wonder how practical it would be to have some company just store powdered eggs if the prices are going to be jerking around that much. Can't do a sunny-side-up egg or anything like that, but for baking, it should be fine.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 86 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Exactly. Egg prices have gone up in large part because factory farming is unsustainable and we're starting to see that with flu outbreaks. Who'da thunk.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 46 points 1 month ago

Thing is, Biden has been paying farmers for their losses and ramping up inspections to detect and stop spread.

Egg prices would be even worse if Biden was sitting on his ass. We’d have even more of a supply and demand discrepancy.

But, maybe Trump wants to propose injecting chickens with bleach.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Not to mention the price spike on eggs specifically is also way less than he would like to make it appear. Yes, in 2020 dollars, a dozen eggs was $1.50. But adjusted for inflation to today's dollars, that 1.50 is actually about 2 dollars today (inflation being a much broader issue and highly affected by covid). So the price didn't jump from 1.50 to 4 dollars, an increase of 167%, nor even from 1.5 to 3 dollars, an increase of 100%. It only went up from 2 dollars to just under 3 dollars (given the signs), an increase of just under 50 percent. Considering all the avian flu outbreaks that is an entirely reasonable price hike on a high demand good.

[–] skibidi@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I see the point you are trying to make, but inflation doesn't quite when that way.

Comparing the prices of the same commodities at two different points in time is literally how inflation is calculated, the increase from $1.50 to $4 is real.

Now, what the inflation-adjusted dollars are telling you is that if eggs had only increased in price commensurate with general inflation, they would have gone from $1.50 to $2. The extra $2 increase is above what a consumer would expect given the general increase in the prices of everything else. If someone (magically) had a salary that increases with inflation, they would find eggs today to be a larger fraction of their spending if they kept the same level of consumption.

Eggs are more expensive both in absolute and relative to other products. The reasons for this are complex, but due in no small part to people continuing to buy large quantities of eggs even when they were heinously expensive in the early days of the pandemic. The market absorbed that information and came to the conclusion that eggs were previously undervalued.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

First, you missed the part where the actual price now is not 4 dollars? He lied. It was 3 dollars, per the sign right behind him.

Second, national inflation is calculated off a broad spectrum of goods and services providing insight into the relative buying power of tthe dollar itself, so it is not missing the point to compare based on the adjusted buying power of the dollar. It is a more accurate reflection of the true rise in cost of this individual good comparing how its rise in price has outpaced the average rise in costs across the board. It reflects the extra pressures put on the egg market from the avian flu outbreaks and possible other factors rather than the general inflation of the entire economy.

Third, if Vance's goal was to demonstrate that inflation in general had gone up tremendously and blame Harris specifically for that (despite how ridiculous that is), using eggs as a specific measure of the effect of their policies when the price hike on eggs have significantly outpaced other goods and is clearly due to non-policy related circumstances outside anyone's control is obviously disingenuous. And that was before he lied and tried to add another 30+ percent on top of the already inflated price.

[–] skibidi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Intentionally did not talk about Vance, I was merely responding to the idea that using past prices adjusted for inflation compared to current prices isn't that straightforward.

Thanks for the lecture, appreciate the tone.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Vance's comments was the context in which my comment was made. Context matters

[–] Wrench@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

I know CA voted for more humane living conditions for egg farms years ago. That seemed to have a direct price impact that slowly came down a bit.

[–] IamAnonymous@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

I think they know this but it won’t help their campaign. That’s the state of US politics. Just like the gas prices. Biden was blamed for increasing gas prices while all the gas companies showed record profits because they just increased their prices.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 1 month ago

They haven't done anything to better it, either. I can't find numbers for this year, so we'll probably have to wait until next. https://www.yahoo.com/news/profits-largest-u-egg-producer-180807947.html