Zachary Halaschak of the Washington Examiner explores one of President Biden’s favorite words.
“Shrinkflation” is the word du jour for the Biden administration, which is readying for the president to discuss the economy in his annual State of the Union address.
Shrinkflation, a portmanteau of “shrink” and “inflation,” has become a popular term for corporate greed among the more liberal lawmakers in the Democratic Party. They contend that corporations are cheating consumers by giving them less product for the same price — shrinkflation.
But the Biden administration only just recently began to echo those same sentiments. The pushing of the shrinkflation line ahead of the State of the Union could be seen as a way to deflect blame for the inflation of the past few years onto corporations rather than on economic policies implemented by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.
Still, Republicans have dismissed Biden’s attacks on shrinkflation, arguing that excessive spending by the administration, coupled with Federal Reserve monetary policy during the pandemic, is mainly to blame.
“Shrinkflation is real, but it’s not a partisan issue. Shrinkflation is part of the great COVID inflation,” Ryan Young, senior economist at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, recently told the Washington Examiner.
Shrinkflation is factored into official statistics for inflation, such as the consumer price index. In other words, the inflation statistics commonly cited by officials and the media already reflect any such adjustments by manufacturers.
Just weeks ago, Biden posted a video ad on social media railing against the practice.
“While you were Super Bowl shopping, did you notice smaller-than-usual products where the price stays the same?” Biden posted on X. “Folks are calling it Shrinkflation and it means companies are giving you less for every dollar you spend. I’m calling on the big consumer brands to put a stop to it.”
“American public is tired of being played for suckers,” Biden said in the video.
