The title image above depicts what a typicaly blue-collar U.S. family consumed in the course of the 1951 year.
450 pounds (204kg) of Flour, 72 pounds (33kg) of Shortening, 56 pounds (25kg) of Flour, 31 Chickens, 300 pounds (136kg) of Beef, 25 pounds (11kg) of Carp, 144 pounds (65kg) of Ham, 39 pounds (18kg) of Coffee, 690 pounds (313kg) of Potatoes, 698 quarts (660 litres) of Milk, 131 dozen Eggs, 180 loaves of Bread, 8½ gallons (32 litres) of Ice Cream
In 1951, an average U.S. family income was approximately US$3,700 and inflation was running at 7.88%. The average cost of a new house was about US$9,000 and the average cost of a new car was about US$1,500.
George Bernard Shaw once observed “If you laid all the economists in the world end-to-end, they would still not reach a conclusion" and sure enough, there continues to be dissent amongst economists and media commentators.
By way of example, New Zealand is dished up regular opinion pieces from the likes of Damien Grant. In one such pearl of wisdom (May 2023) he posited that increasing regulatory pressure on the country’s monopolistic supermarket industry would be counter-productive and likely to add to the retail cost of grocery items. He concluded by suggesting “We are not in a cost-of-living crisis. We are just poor.” He repeated similar opinion Feb 2025. Which planet is this dude from.
An integral part of any solution for New Zealand is to dramatically increase retail competition within the supermarket industry which has been described as one of the more profitable such industries in the world. The existing players have had it too good for too long and the New Zealand government should do absolutely whatever is necessary to encourage / bribe one or more of the larger international operators to set up shop throughout the country. If the Minister of Finance – Nicola Willis can pull this off, she will be regarded as a super hero. Bring it on!