# Why can't Biden get more traction from the economy?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-biden-get-more-traction-from-the-economy/1001736
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [May 18, 2024, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-biden-get-more-traction-from-the-economy/1001736 "2024-05-18T13:12:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
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### Author: ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-biden-get-more-traction-from-the-economy/1001736/726 "2024-06-10T15:56:55Z")

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Anecdotal, and hard to go into detail succinctly, but I’ll throw it out there.

Around here, grocery prices are indeed going down in the sense that _sale prices_ (as opposed to base retail prices) are getting lower. Impulse purchases and non-price-sensitive purchases (e.g.“_I just go through and pick up what I need. I don’t look a the circular_”) are about the same as they were a year ago, but sale prices on many staple items were well down from a year ago. We’re getting better discounts than a year ago.

A few quick examples (all examples local to New Orleans, LA):

**Bottled water, 24 x 0.5-liter cases:** In 2021, four cases @ $10 was a common sales price that you could count on catching at least once or twice a month (not always the same store). By mid-2022, three cases @ $12 was about as good as the sales got. Within the last month or so, three cases @ $10 is getting common, and there’s been sightings of three for $9 and even two for $5.

**Brand-name soft drinks, 6 x 0.5-liter packs:** 12-18 months ago, Buy Two Get Two free at $7.99 apiece (so about $4 per six-pack) would pop up somewhere maybe once a month. These days, four for $12 is the once-a-month sale price and $3.25/pack pops up occasionally. Checking out the circulars, you can now always find a close-by store selling the six-packs discounted to $4 apiece.

**Eggs:** During the worst of the egg price hikes a year or so ago, finding Eggland’s Best 24-pack of large eggs for $6.99 was a steal of a sales price – the store brands were higher at the time! Just this morning, I picked up two dozen extra large eggs (store brand) for $3.44.

**Boneless chicken breasts:** Late 2022, $2.79/lb was the stock-up-the-freezer price. Today, $1.99/lb is the typical sales price, and you can count on it that _somewhere_ will offer that discount at least every other week.

**Brand-name potato chips / tortilla chips / etc.:** If you’re brand-insensitive, you can find circa-2019 prices on many kinds of chips every weekend (likely have to buy two or more bags). True, if you echew the sale prices, you’ll be paying at least 50% more than pre-pandemic. But the discounts are frequent and deep.

EDIT: And it’s hard for me to imagine this is all unique to the New Orleans area. Price-sensitive shoppers should be noticing similar price breaks in other parts of the U.S.

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