economy
You're not mad about the burrito prices. You're mad about service prices
In a bit of X discourse so dumb that it culminated in the vice president fat-shaming a newspaper columnist, the right-wing commentariat has spent the last 48 hours arguing over whether burritos are too expensive. Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire began the dialogue by blaming “insane” grocery prices on “stupid foreign wars,” followed by Turning Point’s Andrew Kolvet claiming a college student lamented that “a burrito shouldn’t cost $20.” Marc Thiessen, the aforementioned Washington Post columnist, noted that college students have access to cafeteria food, concluding with JD Vance commenting that Thiessen “has never missed a burrito.”
TL;DR
- The debate over burrito prices is a distraction from the real drivers of affordability concerns: service prices and housing.
- Real average weekly earnings have declined under the Biden administration, with CPI rising faster than nominal wages.
- Under the Trump administration, nominal wage growth outpaced CPI, leading to an increase in real average weekly earnings.
- Shelter and services (excluding food, energy, and shelter services) account for nearly three-quarters of CPI inflation since March 2020.
- Reducing the cost of services like restaurant meals involves addressing labor costs, minimum wage hikes, and regulations.
- Voters prefer government focus on lowering costs over raising nominal wages.
- Suggestions for cheaper burritos include eliminating the minimum wage, dismantling unions, slashing payroll taxes, and adopting AI.