The Price of Everything Went Up. But Who Is Pocketing the Difference?

Six years after COVID-19, American families are paying dramatically more for groceries, fuel, housing, and basic necessities. Supply disruptions explain some of the increases. But growing evidence of corporate pricing power raises an uncomfortable question: Are Americans being charged more simply because companies can get away with it?

Something has fundamentally changed about the cost of living in America.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a grocery bill of $150 might have covered a family’s weekly essentials. Today, purchasing many of those same products can cost considerably more.

Electricity bills have climbed. Insurance premiums have surged. Rent has become increasingly difficult to afford. Restaurants charge more for familiar meals, and a routine trip to the gas station can strain an already tight household budget.

Meanwhile, Americans are repeatedly told that these increases are the unavoidable consequence of inflation.

But that explanation deserves closer examination.

Inflation tells us how quickly prices are changing. It does not, by itself, explain who is responsible for the increases, who benefits from them, or why higher prices often remain after the original cost pressures subside.

And those questions matter. Because behind every price increase is a decision made somewhere along the supply chain.

America Is Now Approximately 30% More Expensive

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices rose approximately 30.3% between February 2020 and September 2026. Groceries increased approximately 31.8% over the same period.

That means a household spending $500 per month on groceries before the pandemic would now need approximately $659 to purchase an equivalent basket of food.

Someone who needed $5,000 per month to maintain a particular standard of living in early 2020 would require approximately $6,513 today, based on overall consumer price inflation. That’s more than $18,000 in additional annual after-tax spending.

And these calculations don’t necessarily capture the full experience of households facing unusually large increases in insurance, property taxes, or housing expenses.

Americans are being asked to spend significantly more money simply to maintain the lives they already had.

Annual consumer inflation reached 3.7% in September 2026, while inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings declined 0.7% over the preceding year.

People can work just as hard, receive a nominal raise, and still lose purchasing power. But why?

The Other Side of Inflation: The Dollar Itself Buys Less

Rising prices are only half the way Americans experience inflation. The other half is the declining purchasing power of each dollar already earned and saved.

With overall consumer prices about 30.3% higher than in February 2020, a dollar today buys only about 76.7% as much as it did before the pandemic. Put another way, a basket of goods that cost $100 in early 2020 now costs approximately $130.30. Conversely, $100 held today has purchasing power equivalent to roughly $76.75 in 2020 dollars.

For someone who kept $100,000 in non-interest-bearing cash since early 2020, the account statement may still read $100,000. But its buying power has fallen to about $76,750 when measured in February 2020 dollars. Savings that earned interest or investment returns could have fared differently; what matters is whether those returns kept pace with inflation.

People are not suffering two separate losses from higher prices and a weaker dollar. These are two ways of describing the same erosion in purchasing power. The result is nevertheless severe: a worker must earn more just to afford the same standard of living, and a retiree whose income is fixed must make the same dollars stretch further.

That is why nominal pay raises and growing account balances can create an illusion of prosperity. The meaningful measure is real purchasing power: how much housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and time people’s money can actually buy.

This is about the dollar’s value within the United States, not necessarily its foreign-exchange value against the euro, pound, or yen. The critical question remains: If technology, efficiency, and productivity improve, why do so many American families find the essentials of life increasingly difficult to afford?

The Chicken Question: When Production Costs Fall, Shouldn’t Prices Follow?

Consider something as ordinary as chicken.

A chicken today is fundamentally the same product consumers purchased before the pandemic. The agricultural industry has not forgotten how to raise chickens.

In fact, American poultry production has become increasingly efficient through improvements in genetics, feed conversion, processing, and production technology. Broiler chickens can typically reach market weight in approximately seven to eight weeks.

And unlike beef production, which requires lengthy breeding and livestock development cycles, poultry producers can respond relatively quickly to changes in demand.

Yet chicken prices, like most grocery prices, rose considerably during the inflationary period.

There were legitimate reasons for some of those increases. Feed, labor, transportation, and processing expenses became more expensive during the pandemic and its aftermath.

But here’s where the situation becomes interesting.

According to the USDA, agricultural feed expenses began declining in 2023 as commodity markets adjusted. Increased production has also improved poultry supplies.

By September 2026, consumer chicken prices were actually 0.6% lower than a year earlier.

That demonstrates something important: Chicken prices can fall. But it also raises a larger question about the years of cumulative increases that preceded the recent declines.

When feed becomes cheaper, poultry production grows, and wholesale prices fall, how quickly do those savings reach consumers? How much remains with processors, distributors, and retailers? And who has the power to determine that difference?

These questions are particularly relevant to North Carolina, where poultry is one of the state’s most important agricultural industries.

The Federal Government Found a Serious Problem in the Meat Industry

In May 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a proposed settlement in its antitrust case against Agri Stats, a company that collected and distributed detailed competitive information among meat processors.

The government’s complaint alleged that the exchange of sensitive pricing, production, and cost information weakened competition among major chicken, pork, and turkey processors.

The Justice Department argued that access to competitors’ confidential information helped processors identify opportunities to raise prices and coordinate production decisions.

The proposed settlement would restrict the distribution of sensitive information and make certain market data more widely accessible.

The allegations are not proof that every poultry producer engaged in price manipulation, and the proposed settlement should not be mistaken for a final judicial finding of liability.

But the underlying concern is serious.

When competitors have extensive knowledge of one another’s costs, output, and pricing, the market may no longer function like the competitive system consumers expect.

A genuinely competitive marketplace pressures businesses to become more efficient and pass some of those efficiencies along through lower prices. When competition weakens, those incentives weaken too.

This isn’t an argument against successful businesses earning profits. It’s an argument for making sure profits come from creating value rather than exploiting a lack of competition.

The Grocery Industry’s Pandemic Windfall

The Federal Trade Commission examined how the pandemic affected grocery supply chains and released its findings in March 2024.

The report documented genuine disruptions: transportation difficulties, product shortages, distribution problems, and changing consumer demand.

But it also found evidence that some large market participants used those disruptions to strengthen their competitive positions.

One finding was especially revealing.

Food and beverage retailer revenues exceeded total costs by more than 6% in 2021, compared with a recent pre-pandemic peak of 5.6% in 2015. During the first three quarters of 2023, that figure climbed to approximately 7%.

The FTC concluded that these results raised questions about whether grocery price increases were explained solely by rising retailer costs.

Think about what that means.

If a business raises prices because its costs increase, customers may reasonably expect the company to restore margins as costs stabilize. But if profits expand beyond their earlier levels, consumers have grounds to question whether all those price increases were necessary.

That does not mean every grocery chain profited excessively. It does mean the idea that supermarkets were merely passing along unavoidable expenses is not a complete explanation.

The Oil Industry: Production Costs and Market Prices Are Two Different Things

Gasoline offers another revealing example.

Consumers frequently hear that prices rise because oil becomes more expensive to produce. But the cost of extracting a barrel of oil and the price that barrel commands in global markets are not the same thing.

Oil prices respond to international demand, production decisions, geopolitical events, transportation constraints, and expectations about future supply.

An oil producer with relatively low operating costs may receive substantially more for its output when global prices rise. That difference can produce enormous profits during periods of tight supply.

Still, it would be inaccurate to claim that oil-production costs have not increased since COVID.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas surveys show that the average price required to cover operating expenses on existing wells rose from approximately $31 per barrel in 2021 to $41 in 2025 among surveyed producers.

Costs for drilling and developing new wells are higher still. But increased extraction expenses do not explain every change in gasoline prices.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the price at the pump includes crude oil, refining, distribution, marketing, and taxes. Each component has its own economics.

And in September 2026, gasoline prices rose sharply amid major changes in energy markets.

The question is how much of the resulting increase represents necessary costs, how much reflects scarcity, and how much becomes additional profit.

Consumers deserve to know the difference.

The Problem With the Word ‘Inflation’

Inflation has become an extraordinarily convenient explanation.

A restaurant raises prices: inflation. A utility increases its rates: inflation. An insurance company increases premiums: inflation. A landlord raises rent: inflation. A manufacturer adjusts its prices upward: inflation.

Some of these decisions are justified by measurable increases in expenses. Others may reflect higher demand, limited competition, or businesses discovering that customers will tolerate higher prices.

And the causes are not identical across industries.

Federal Reserve researchers have reached differing conclusions about the role of corporate profits in the pandemic inflation surge.

Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City found that rising business markups contributed substantially to inflation in 2021, although the evidence suggested companies were partly anticipating future cost pressures.

Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco subsequently concluded that economy-wide markup changes were not the primary cause of the broader inflation surge.

Both findings are important. They suggest that no single explanation—not corporate greed, not government policy, not supply chains—adequately explains every price increase.

But they also make clear why consumers should examine actual costs and profits rather than accept a generic explanation.

Why Don’t Prices Come Back Down?

This may be the most important question of all.

When a company’s costs increase, it often raises prices quickly to protect profitability. But when those costs decrease, there is no guarantee that retail prices fall by the same amount.

Some businesses remain subject to higher wages, rents, insurance premiums, financing expenses, and other operating costs. Long-term contracts and inventory purchased at earlier prices can also delay adjustments.

But companies may also retain higher prices because customers have become accustomed to paying them.

In markets with limited competition, businesses may face little pressure to change course. The result can be a permanent shift in what consumers are expected to pay.

And there’s another important distinction: Falling inflation does not necessarily mean falling prices. If inflation drops from 8% to 3%, prices are generally still rising—just more slowly.

For American families hoping to regain the purchasing power they lost after 2020, that offers limited comfort.

Americans Are Being Squeezed From Every Direction

For households in Charlotte and throughout North Carolina, the cumulative effect is substantial.

Families must pay for food, housing, electricity, transportation, insurance, healthcare, and taxes before they can begin saving or investing. And many of these expenses cannot simply be eliminated.

A family can postpone purchasing a new television. It cannot indefinitely postpone buying groceries.

A driver may reduce unnecessary trips but still needs transportation to work. A homeowner may cut discretionary spending but still faces property taxes and insurance premiums.

This makes necessities particularly sensitive to pricing power.

When companies selling essential goods and services face weak competition, households have fewer realistic alternatives. And when nearly every major expense increases at once, consumers lose the flexibility to compensate.

The result is a steady transfer of purchasing power away from households struggling to maintain their standard of living.

That transfer is not necessarily profit for one particular corporation: Some of it pays workers, suppliers, governments, creditors, and other businesses facing their own rising costs.

But the financial pressure on households is unmistakable.

A Free Market Must Actually Be Competitive

There is nothing inherently wrong with a business earning significant profits. Successful companies should be rewarded for creating better products, operating efficiently, investing in innovation, and serving customers.

Profit is an essential incentive in a productive economy.

But there is a difference between earning profits by creating more value and earning profits because consumers have no meaningful alternative.

A healthy free market depends on competition. It depends on transparent pricing. It depends on consumers having choices. And it depends on preventing businesses from using market power or unlawful coordination to undermine those conditions.

There are practical ways to strengthen that system.

Regulators should vigorously enforce antitrust laws when there is evidence of illegal collusion. Companies supplying essential goods should face meaningful competition and scrutiny of their pricing practices. Governments should reduce unnecessary barriers that prevent new businesses from entering markets.

And public policy should encourage investment in technology, automation, transportation, and production systems that reduce the underlying cost of delivering goods and services.

The goal should not be to punish successful enterprises. It should be to create an economy where productive efficiency benefits customers as well as shareholders.

It’s Time to Ask Who Benefits

Six years after COVID, Americans are still living with a dramatically higher price level.

Some increases were unavoidable. Factories closed. Supply chains broke down. Energy markets experienced major shocks. Production and transportation costs rose.

But those explanations should not become permanent excuses for prices that no longer reflect underlying economics.

When input costs decline, when productivity improves, when supply expands, and when companies become more efficient, consumers should expect at least some of those benefits to reach them.

When that doesn’t happen, we should ask why.

Are other expenses still elevated? Are businesses earning greater margins? Is competition functioning properly? Or have companies discovered that customers will simply keep paying more?

Those questions should matter to everyone—Republicans, Democrats, business owners, investors, and working families alike.

Because a prosperous economy is not defined solely by rising corporate earnings or growing stock market valuations. It is defined by the ability of ordinary people to earn a living, afford necessities, build savings, invest in their futures, and enjoy the rewards of economic progress.

Americans do not need another explanation of why everything costs more. They deserve transparency about where their money is going—and a competitive economy that gives them a fair deal.