Thread by @kradmacher

Both “sides” of this conversation are disingenuous. Yes, prime rib is a prime cut and has always been expansive. In 2021, this same cut would’ve cost ~$197, so still jaw-dropping which is Canadian politico’s point 1/

https://twitter.com/lpc_hack/status/1989542993938809021

So prime rib has gone up about 30% over the past four years. But very few people have ever been buying that cut in the first place. Again, Politico’s point, but it’s not a useful point. /2

The better barometer is to look at ground beef, which most meat eaters do buy. In 2021, approximately once per month, you could find a sale for regular ground beef at ~$2.99 lb. So then we need to look at purchasing power. /3

This conversation is most meaningful if we look at minimum wage earners (with the strong caveat that ODSP/OW recipients and their counterparts across the country feel this even more profoundly)./4

So using the assumption that low income earners only buy ground beef when it’s on sale, I compared prices from 2021 to today. In absolute terms, the price of prime rib has jumped over 30% while the price of ground beef has climbed more moderately. /5

But that only matters if your purchasing power has kept up. So looked at that way, you can compare how many minutes a minimum wage earner needed to work to buy prime rib vs ground beef and THAT number is the one that is shocking. /6

A minimum wage worker has to work 8 minutes more per week to afford the same prime rib as in 2021, but has to work *23 minutes* more per week today to afford the same amount of ground beef they did in 2021, if they only ever buy it on sale. /7

So what you see happening in this discussion between a liberal and a conservative is how they tag team to keep the conversation away from what’s actually happening. Yes, $250 for a slab of beef is expensive. So was $197. /8

But if you’re regularly buying that cut, your income has kept up with that cost. So this is where liberals get to play along with this game. They can dismiss this as elitist bellyaching but in doing so, they give cover to the growing food crisis and what is really happening. /9

The point of this nonsense is to avoid looking at the real issues. Regular priced ground beef has gone up under 10% over the past 4 years compared to 30% for prime rib; but regular ground beef *on sale* has at least doubled in price. /10

But when a conservative posts this rage bait, the liberals show up to point out how “cheap” regular food is in comparison and so therefore not so bad. They get to keep talking on circles with one another without looking at what’s happening /11

The reality is, in real terms, if you’re a minimum wage worker (or worse on a fixed income/in legislated poverty) ground beef has at least doubled in cost for you in under 4 years. But we can avoid that by jibber jabbering about prime rib. /12

Conveniently, economists onlu look at market prices and in that case, ground beef has only increased 8% in that time, but most low income earners only buy ground beef when it’s on sale and THAT metric has doubled in the past 4 years, while minimum wage/odsp/OW has not. 13/13

@threadreaderapp please unroll