Baltimore Residents Adjust To Rising Prices Tied To Inflation, Supply Chain Issues
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- With U.S. inflation at a more than 40-year high, some Baltimore consumers are adapting to rising prices.
"I feel like I'm trying to make more stuff at home rather than the convenience foods," mother Sarah Khor said Tuesday after grocery shopping. "Everything (is more expensive). Fruits, vegetables, snacks, dairy."
Pent-up demand and supply chain issues are the primary reasons behind high inflation, Loyola University professor J. P. Krahel said.
"People want a lot more goods than they would have under normal pre-COVID times and the supply chain is able to deliver far fewer goods than it was pre-COVID times," Krahel said. "There are some pretty tidal forces conflicting with each other and driving prices up."
Until demand goes down and the issues with the supply chain stabilize, consumers should not expect any relief anytime soon, he said.
"A lot of these forces are beyond any one person or government's ability to control," Krahel said. "Inflation has hit people very differentially. We're not all feeling this the same way."
Outside an East Baltimore supermarket Tuesday, Carl Gholson said he had not changed what he buys, but he has noticed the soaring prices.
"The prices in there are outrageous," Gholson said. "It seems like every day prices are rising and everything is rising."
The latest Labor statistics for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson region showed new car prices are up nearly 30% over last year. Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs are up more than 20%.