NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)— Inflation is soaring with a nine percent increase. Food, gas, rent are all on the rise and an economics professor at Loyola University says there’s no relief in sight.
John Livendis, an Economics and Business Analytics Professor at Loyola says the 9.1 inflation rate is putting us all in an uncomfortable position.
“Nothing is affordable anymore and people’s wages haven’t caught up to the inflation so everyone’s hurting right now,” he said.
We’ve all noticed the food price increases at grocery stores. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, egg prices are up 33.1 percent, chicken up 18.6 percent, milk up 16.4 percent, bread up 10.8 percent, as for bacon it is up 11.9 percent, oranges are up 10.9 percent, lettuce is up 11.4 percent, and coffee is up 15.8 percent.
“You can’t not eat, but you can be more selective of what you eat and where you eat,” Livendis said.
Over at Doris Metropolitan in the French Quarter, they’ve seen inflation with their meats.
“Anything that has to do with protein is up whether it be beef, pork, shrimp, fish, crabs, those prices have all gone up dramatically,” Eddie Phillips, Butcher at Doris said.
Butcher Eddie Phillips says ribeye steaks and tenderloins have gone up the most.
“My theory behind it is the USDA wanted to test the market to see if raising the price would affect people buying it. They saw that the dramatic price increase didn’t affect the buyer,” he said.
But buyer’s beware, Professor Livendis says a recession is not out of the question.
“Absolutely no relief in sight, we could be dealing with this for awhile,” Livendis said.