Lately, grocery prices have figured significantly in America’s political argumentation. A number of Trump voters cited them as justifications for their votes, for example. (Excuse my skeptical belief that this “reason” was generally given to mask the racism/misogyny that actually prompted those votes.)
Biden had little to do with grocery prices, but those prices are legitimately relevant to arguments about Trump’s moronic devotion to tariffs, and his threat to impose them on pretty much every country from which the U.S. imports. Every economist who has weighed in has pointed out that tariffs tax American consumers, not the countries exporting to us. And it’s hard to ignore the inevitable effect of his fixation on mass deportations, which–if successful–would leave crops rotting in American fields and set prices soaring.
Prices aren’t the only grocery problem. There’s also maldistribution– the growing incidence of America’s food deserts. A friend recently shared an Atlantic article that shed light on both issues. Titled “The Great Grocery Squeeze,” it highlighted the importance of government policy–very much including the enforcement of policy.
The concept of the food desert has been around long enough that it feels almost like a fact of nature. Tens of millions of Americans live in low-income communities with no easy access to fresh groceries, and the general consensus is that these places just don’t have what it takes to attract and sustain a supermarket. They’re either too poor or too sparsely populated to generate sufficient spending on groceries, or they can’t overcome a racist pattern of corporate redlining.
But these explanations fail to contend with a key fact: Although poverty and ruralness have been with us forever, food deserts arrived only around the late 1980s. Prior to that, small towns and poor neighborhoods could generally count on having a grocery store, perhaps even several. (The term food desert was coined in 1995 by a task force studying what was then a relatively new phenomenon.)
Affluent folks tend to think of food deserts as a feature of low-income, primarily Black neighborhoods, but it’s also a problem in very White places like North Dakota. In 1980s, almost every small town in North Dakota had a grocery store, and many had two. Now, nearly half of North Dakota’s rural residents live in a food desert.
Food deserts are not an inevitable consequence of poverty or low population density, and they didn’t materialize around the country for no reason. Something happened. That something was a specific federal policy change in the 1980s. It was supposed to reward the biggest retail chains for their efficiency. Instead, it devastated poor and rural communities by pushing out grocery stores and inflating the cost of food.
In 1936 Congress had passed the Robinson-Patman Act, essentially banning price discrimination in the industry.
During the decades when Robinson-Patman was enforced—part of the broader mid-century regime of vigorous antitrust—the grocery sector was highly competitive, with a wide range of stores vying for shoppers and a roughly equal balance of chains and independents. In 1954, the eight largest supermarket chains captured 25 percent of grocery sales. That statistic was virtually identical in 1982, although the specific companies on top had changed. As they had for decades, Americans in the early 1980s did more than half their grocery shopping at independent stores, including both single-location businesses and small, locally owned chains. Local grocers thrived alongside large, publicly traded companies such as Kroger and Safeway.
Studies tracking grocery prices while Robinson-Patman was being enforced found that large independent grocers were less than 1 percent more expensive than the big chains.
In the 1980s, convinced that tough antitrust enforcement was holding back American business, the Reagan administration set about dismantling it. The Robinson-Patman Act remained on the books, but the new regime saw it as an economically illiterate handout to inefficient small businesses. And so the government simply stopped enforcing it..That move tipped the retail market in favor of the largest chains, who could once again wield their leverage over suppliers.
Once independent stores closed, “the chains no longer had to invest in low-income areas. They could count on people to schlep across town to their other locations.”
It wasn’t only groceries–lack of anti-trust enforcement affected the entire retail sector. Between 1982 to 2017, the market share of independent retailers went from 53% to 22%.
The problem of food deserts will not be solved without the rediscovery of the Robinson-Patman Act. Requiring a level pricing playing field would restore local retailers’ ability to compete. This would provide immediate relief to entrepreneurs who have recently opened grocery stores in food deserts, only to find that their inability to buy on the same terms as Walmart and Dollar General makes survival difficult.
Policy matters. Just not in the way MAGA voters think.
That is really interesting. Thank you for writing about it.
This is an example of why it is important to record and remember what has been before. As has been said here many times, those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, and those who do not want history taught want to repeat it.
Expect a big push to re-write history soon. It is part of the authoritarian playbook. This is why it is important to keep a record of events as they happen, both in the official record and in the daily journals, even the personal journals that we keep. Remember who did what, and when it happened.
For example, soon t*ump will begin to take credit for the excellent economy he is inheriting from Biden, and he will take credit for the infrastructure act, the fall of Syria, and the sun that rises in the East. And, sadly, the Americans who only follow Fox will believe it. But those of us who know better must be ready with facts, which are stubborn things.
Prices of commodities like groceries are stuck in a pure capitalistic supply chain that is out of the reach of the government. It was made into a purely political talking point with no counterpoint except that it’s nagging daily, but who believes in facts when the specter of the first American Royalty is in the headlines daily?
It’s a nuance that politics, advertising for candidates, is now more critical than civics, and nobody knows what it will take for this country to pull out of that nosedive.
1) During second year of law school at IU-Indy, I took Anti-trust law. Prof Galanti, on the first evening of class, started the lecture by saying (something to the effect of) “Welcome to Anti-trust law. Under Ronald Reagan, it no longer exists. We’;; study what once was.” A lot of stats began what eventually became radical changes, and not for the good, in this country. 2) “Free market” zealots ignore the built-in, self-destruction mechanism of the “free market.” It functions in ways similar to the NCAA basketball tournament, where one loss means a team is out. In the NCAA, there will be a tournament next year. In the “free market,” anyone left standing gets to keep the whole thing. And to be clear: nearly all business owners hate competition. 3) Your mention of food deserts and attempts to lure investors to an area that, otherwise, would not draw investors brings us to TIFs. They were created in California in the 1950s. TIFs now are banned there. Instead of luring otherwise-reluctant investors to impacted areas, the drew elected officials the way credit card ads on classroom billboards, with suggestions of “Build up your credit!” lured first-year college students in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mark, Thanks for calling out the Reagan/Regan administration for their aggressive attack on regulations so that their big business/Wall Street donors could profit at the expense of fairness.
Reagan, it should be understood, was nothing more than a puppet of big money. He was a C actor who played his role and read his scripts provided to him by Donald Regan, the former CEO of American Express.
Everything Republicans touch eventually dies … even your local grocer. Disgusting.
The Atlantic article does a great job explaining the reasons behind the Robinson-Pittman act, so read it if you want a great idea on how free markets break down under monopolistic pressures. I saw the Atlantic article a week before I saw another article that mentioned this very same act and enforcement by the Biden administration against liquor store distributors. Sorry if this is behind a paywall.
https://www.ibj.com/articles/ftc-sues-largest-wine-and-spirits-distributor-saying-it-discriminates-against-smaller-stores
Homo………. began using tools 2.5 Mya. Even that early in evolution, our big brains someday ancestors found they could be used for good and evil.
After a while, slightly more developed brains started thinking about social organization models for larger tribes.
Some say the peak of that thinking was in 1775-1776, here with the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Edward Bernays stumbled here and, in 1928, wrote “Propaganda,” a description of tools used for advertising and public relations.
The big brains following him ran with his tool for good and evil and broadcast media put it on steroids.
I also suspect the lack of antitrust enforcement has changed the whole retail landscape in America. I suspect it is part of the death of every downtown in America. I’m starting to think it explains why a trip to any small town in Europe looks so different than a trip to 95% of small towns in America.
Vernon, I apologize if I left an impression that Reagan was anything more than figurehead.
Vernon, once again I find we are on the same page: I have long believed that C actor RR, merely played the part of President, rather than fit the position.
But, I had not known Regan’s history.
Now, the de-regulators will pull the Trump strings, and make things even worse.
At this point, I may not still be around when, and if, a Dem. gov’t ever decides to reinstate sensible, socially positive legislation.
Mitch, I share your feelings. In some ways I’m glad I’m old, in others I want to fight to the end to save my country from the scourge of Republicans.
Vern, remember Roger Ailes from Reagan’s administration, who went on to run Fox News for Murdoch. Reagan screwed up CA and the USA.
Any article on food prices and deserts in poor areas must fully understand the Walmart Effect. Walmart wiped out the independent butchers and grocers. Wally World also wipes out independent retailers as well. Furthermore, it depresses wages wherever they are in a market. They also forced many US manufacturers to close shop and move to China or Mexico, wiping out millions of good-paying jobs.
Walmart should have never been allowed to dominate the market to the point it can dictate prices to its suppliers. Once suppliers get on the shelves at Walmart, they are owned by WM purchasers, who dictate prices and quantities. This has crushed many small mom and pops.
In our small East Central Indiana community, they brought in a Walmart on the far northwest side (the wealthier side with more disposable income). Within a short period, all the smaller grocery stores catering to low-income communities were closing. So, the brilliant local council begged for another Walmart in the far southeast. They got their wish after promising massive commercial development on that side of town. The development never happened, and Walmart now closes at 9pm because the Southside doesn’t have enough traffic. #brilliant
In the past five years, Dollar General (the buzzard of retail) has filled in all the voids left by Walmart. Shoppers claim they are getting amazing deals at DG, but study after study, and article after article, shows that shoppers at DG are paying much higher prices than if they shopped at Walmart or other grocery stores. #marketing
So, will Trump and Musk be the guys who break up Walmart and bring all our manufacturing back to the US? The Waltons own Arkansas. Look at their governor! LOL
Under Trump’s definition of the “Deep State,” Walmart and the Waltons would definitely qualify. They not only dominate a market, but they influence regulations in their state and Washington. The rich got richer, and the poor got poorer!
The Reagan administration stopped enforcing ALL antitrust laws and allowed all types of businesses to either force their competition out of business with temporary price cuts and/or kill them via hostile takeovers.
President Biden’s appointed Lina Kahn as the Chair of the FTC and she has been very busy enforcing the antitrust laws. She most recently stopped Kroger from buying Albertsons. Of course, Kroger employed the typical corporate lie of stating that purchasing Albertsons would create more efficiency, cut their costs and pass on the savings to consumers with lower prices. Those lies had worked for decades until Lina Kahn said no more.
I’m surprised tfg hasn’t yet named his choice for leading the FTC, but I have no doubts that he will ensure the antitrust laws are thrown back into the closet they were hidden in for decades. Many voters chose him for stating that he would reduce prices on Day One and he has already said that would be difficult to accomplish.
The sheer stupidity and ignorance of maga voters is overwhelming.
The Kroger store at East 10th Street and Shortridge Road is our grocery island, the only grocery store now in a very large area. Prices going only up as everywhere else and they frequently move items to different sections. For the past few months they have walled off all personal care items, over the counter medications and other items and there is a separate cashier for “The Box” as it is called. Picked up and paid that cashier for my items. Last week I needed a battery for my large flashlight; searched the area where they have been displayed for years, went back and forth and finally asked Kenny, who has helped me before, where they were. I followed him as he searched the same area I had just searched and had to ask another employee where batteries were now displayed. They had been moved to “The Box”; found my battery and paid that cashier a SECOND time and left to checkout my cartload and paid a THIRD time for my items. They do now sometimes have two cashiers working.
The quality of food is also a problem, store brands and name brand items, as we pay 4 times as much for foods we often throw out as tasteless; this includes the quality of canned and frozen foods. That Kroger used to be a pleasure to shop in and produce was the very best of any of the several grocery stores which USED TO BE in that east side neighborhood.
Prices are not the only problem and there appears to be no possibility of a solution for at least the next four years. Unless; as Trump told his voters if they voted for him this time they would never have to vote again and there will be no solution.
Elon Musk should be the first immigrant Donald Trump deports from this country; either to Canada where he is a citizen due to his mother’s Canadian citizenship or to South Africa where he was born. As co-president-elect at this time it appears we are stuck with those Terrible Two.
Nancy, Trump did appoint a replacement to the FTC who:
“Ferguson previously served as counsel to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.”
That’s really all you need to know about Mr Ferguson and what he’ll be doing at the FTC.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-picks-andrew-ferguson-chair-ftc-2024-12-10/
Todd,
My “connections” to Roger Ailes are closer than you think. I attended Ohio University from 1961 – 65 and he was one of the station voices for WOUB in Athens. If only I’d known then …
Reagan was governor of California while I was a graduate student at San Diego State University from 1971 – 74. My highest semester tuition then for a full class load was $120.00. That was when state property taxes paid into public schools of higher education. After Reagan got through with the egregious Prop. 13, tuitions increased 20 fold. Prop. 13 reduced property taxes for the more expensive properties in the state. Sound familiar? Today, I think the semester tuition for in-state students is something approaching $10,000 per.
Once again, Republicans come to the rescue of fairness and decency with regard to ordinary citizens.