As ruling-class bloodsuckers feed on our immiseration, trips to aisle four have become extra painful for workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, grocery prices rose nearly 30% between February 2020 and September 2025. Meanwhile, real wages have declined by 0.7% between 2021–25.
The bourgeois press comes up with myriad conjunctural factors to explain why workers have to eat these prices—the Ukraine War, avian flu, Trump’s tariffs—but ultimately this is another expression of capitalism’s rot.
Trump promised to slash Biden-flation, which saw food prices climb as much as 11.4% in 2022. Although the administration boasts that egg prices are down 80% as of October, workers aren’t celebrating. According to the Harris Poll, only one in five Americans say it’s now easier to afford groceries. Moreover, 65% say they are financially squeezed month-to-month.
Another poll by the Associated Press and NORC found that the cost of groceries is a major source of stress for just over half of Americans, greater than rent, healthcare, and student debt. In Philadelphia, according to Consumer Affairs, a typical family of four now spends $645 more on their grocery cart annually than a year ago. Considering that last year some 40% of Americans reported needing a loan to make ends meet, this kitchen-table stress is no surprise.
Beef, in particular, has broken records month after month. In August, a pound of ground beef hit a national average of $6.32—a 51% increase since February 2020, and a 12.8% jump since last October. Why? Analysts say it’s a perfect storm of supply and demand. US beef cattle herds are at the lowest levels since the 1960s, largely due to a climate-driven drought that has plagued the Great Plains since 2021. Less feed means ranchers are selling female stock young in order to keep down costs on alternative feed, resulting in fewer calves.
Two additional factors have exacerbated the situation in 2025: an outbreak of a parasite called New World screwworm in Mexico, and Trump’s tariffs. As of August, the latter hit the US’s largest source of imported beef, Brazil. Until recently, Brazil accounted for a quarter of the world’s beef exports. After Trump raised tariffs on Brazilian beef to 76.4%, its shipments tumbled by 41% in September.
A similar picture emerges for coffee, which saw a 20% price hike in the last year for US consumers. This amounts to an average $1-per-pound increase between May and August. What are the two biggest sources for America’s favorite stimulant? Colombia and Brazil, both of which Trump has attempted to bully with tariffs—10% and 50%, respectively—to push back against South America’s largest trading partner, China.
The list of year-on-year price hikes goes on and on: bananas are up 6.6%, pet food, 8.2%, infant formula, 17.5%. Both Kroger and Albertsons are reporting reduced sales. To top it off, the government shutdown threatens 42 million Americans’ access to SNAP benefits.
While shoppers are forced to pass on “luxuries” like meat and fresh produce, demand for “recession foods” is rising. Hamburger Helper sales jumped nearly 15% this year, and sales are up for beans, rice, canned tuna, and mac-and-cheese.
The world market produces enough to feed 10 billion people, but 11% worldwide go hungry. “Supply and demand” appears as an alien force because the anarchy of the market constrains global agriculture’s potential superabundance. Under a rational, democratically planned economy, irrational food prices would become a thing of the past. However, so long as capitalism manages agriculture, the working class can’t even afford the sacrificial calves piling up in the meat department.