Talking inflation and humming 'The Way We Were'

O.K., the movie is not on my “must watch again” list.  It was “a chick flick” from a time when we knew the definition of “woman” or the times when one cried at movies.  The movie was also a good excuse for my generation to ask a girl for a date and most accepted.  Was it me or the movie?  Maybe a little bit of both.  

Last, but not least, I liked the song:  “Memories … Light the corners of my mind … Misty watercolor memories … Of the way we were.”  Nice lyrics, as my English teacher used to say.

Well, it turns that a lot of our fellow citizens are humming that song when they go shopping, thinking about that 1973 movie which might also remind them of the era of inflation that went with it.  

Americans facing rising inflation have become nostalgic for prices from just two years ago when the cost of basic groceries were almost half their price.

In the past, people may have cynically recalled how the cost of everyday items had risen over decades, but now people see prices escalating right before their eyes, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Avocados cost an average of $1 each in early 2021 but had risen to $2.50 just one year later.    

‘There is an element of whiplash,’ a 41-year-old marketing consultant told the paper, regarding the price of avocados. ‘Was that a bygone era from my youth, or was it just last year?’

Yes, a whiplash or a punch between your eyes because I love avocados and my wife keeps telling me that they’re going up.  I grew up eating avocados because our Cuban mother would always add them to our dinners.  

And if you like scrambled eggs for breakfast, then it’s panic: $4.21 a dozen eggs now, $1.60 just two years ago.  Who saw that coming?  There is more:  cereals, meats, dairy, and fruit up 19%.

I tried to be positive and think that this is a good time to go on a diet but even fruits are up.  Everything is up which is why a lot of Americans are thinking about the way we were just 24 months ago.