Put Elon Musk in a room with 99 destitute people and everyone's net worth...on average...would be $6B each.

The average in the bottom 4 quintiles won't be too far off the median for each quintile.

Canned tomatoes $7 for just ONE CAN.

Specialty mushrooms $24 for one container

This is at Whole Foods.

My local grocer has 28 ounce Muir Glen organic fire roasted tomatoes for $3.99. Same size of Private Selection non-organic for $3.29. They used to carry Cento which cost more & I like when I make tomato soup, but they've replaced that brand with Red Gold, which has a label very much like Cento's.

And looked around for a cheaper brand.
Which thank god I found.

I was still reeling from the $25 for a container of mushrooms.
Also was able to find a cheaper container of regular mushrooms.

Problem solved.

But someone in the family wanted a Whole Foods sour dough bread, so I stopped there.

I shop at a store with cheaper prices.

I usually only buy one from them that I can’t find at another store.

I went in for their sour dough bread, but needed a few other items.
Yikes.

we call it cookiepocalypse....because a long time ago, when my oldest two were in elementary school, I wanted Christmas cookies and a bunch of different varieties. I made cookies for us and had WAY too many, so I took boxes of cookies to our elementary and high schools.

I still have a kid in school, (my older two graduated in 2018 and 2019...I started in 2011) so I still do it....boy howdy, between the price of butter and chocolate (nearly died when I saw the cost of white chocolate this year), it's WAY more expensive than usual.

Still doing it, but there is sticker shock. Glad I got a bunch of cocoa powder at Aldi earlier this year.

When I saw the price of the roast I wanted last week at the store, I was in real sticker shock.
Joked to the lady shopper next to me I had to call the bank to see if I can get a line of
credit for shopping for Xmas dinner.

I did buy the roast but a smaller one than usual.

they say what the rate of inflation is and then I look at my grocery bill and see prices that have gone up WAY more than that.

This year it is $40. Exact same throw.

I also talk out loud 'to myself' when I'm shopping in the only red county in VT.

I don't care if people are hearing it.

That’s what we call that place.
We go in to buy an item or two, and are amazed people can afford to fill their carts there.
The quality is top notch, unfortunately it’s too expensive for us.

I do shop there occasionally though if I'm in the area where it's located. There are a few things they carry that I like but it's not the high end stuff. Every since they were bought by Amazon I quit going there weekly. The quality went downhill and the stores aren't as pleasant looking as they used to be.

I was not impressed with the store. Total rip off on food prices.
And they make other bad decisions.

I wanted to buy some lunch from the prepared food section at WF while I was there.
There was a saucy Indian dish I wanted but the clerk in the section insisted I just put it in a brown
box with a fold over lid. Like you use for pastry or friend chicken.

The sauce was like soup but she would not let me use a container
with a liquid proof lid. I pointed out the sauce will leak and spill out of the cardboard box.
She would not budge on the issue so I walked away thinking this place is insane.

$24 for a container of mushrooms, $7 for a can of tomatoes.
And having to put soup in a card board fold over box.

I got out of there fast. It was creepy.

is ridiculous! If I get something from the hot bar, the soup bar is behind it so I just use those containers. I don't even ask. When I get to the checkout, I just say, "this isn't soup, but from the hot bar" and I've never had any cashier have a problem with it. It really is a stupid idea but it was like that even before they were bought out by Amazon. It's meant to be environmentally correct and I get that, but c'mon.

I live near a couple of family owned Italian specialty type stores and you wouldn't believe their prices right now. This all happened right after Covid. I like to turn over some of the bakery items in boxes to see what they cost and there are some things I just can't believe anyone would pay what their asking. Four baklava for $10.99.

In addition to the ridiculous prices, a clerk giving me a hard time about packaging a take out food item.

Telling me I could not use the soup containers for anything but the soup
as they were priced separately. Like I was trying to cheat the store somehow.
I wanted to tell her given the ridiculous prices in the store, it is the store who
is cheating customers.

The entire store was giving me bad vibes.

Just unbelievable.

That is just one part of the meal.
Price of meat is sky high too.

How are people feeding a family?

Tax games won't compensate of decades stagnant wages, and 5 years of absolute insanity on price increases. I was fortunate enough to get a 3% "raise", which means I'm making less than last year relative to my purchasing power. $57 dollars a week extra, before taxes, healthcare, etc... doesn't begin to cover it, andI'm one of the lucky ones so I try not to complain. I certainly didn't see any less come out of my paychecks in 2025, so whatever nonsense they're spouting, it didn't trickle down to lower middle class..

I saw that bumper sticker back in W's terms.

...really explains how he backrupted every business he ever tried. He is MONUMENTALLY stupid.

And nobody does anything about it. And pedo the felon will die scot-free. Or in a nursing room.

That means the store will give me money each time i fill a prescription!

The GOP really wants to help working families...just not the ones that do, like, actual work....

And we'll all have less because our tax dollars no longer go to the programs folks took for granted that he has destroyed.