Posted on 08/18/2025 10:20:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Do you feel knots in your stomach due to financial stress? If so, you certainly have lots of company. All of a sudden, everyone is talking about the cost of living and prices are rising by double-digit percentages all around us. There are so many people out there right now that feel like they are “drowning” because no matter how hard they try there simply isn’t enough money for everything. Unfortunately, we are being warned to brace ourselves for even more inflation in the months ahead.
When I heard that the cost of vegetables in the United States had gone up by 40 percent in one month, I thought that there was no way that it could be true.
So I looked it up, and I discovered that the cost of vegetables in the United States didn’t go up by 40 percent in one month.
The real figure was 38.9 percent…
A 38.9% increase in prices for fresh and dry vegetables from June to July was the major driver of a higher index for “final demand goods” (things that are done and ready to be sold to a consumer, as opposed to things that go into a later production process).
That is nuts!
How can the cost of vegetables go up by 38.9 percent in a single month?
Apparently this was the largest spike that we have ever witnessed in a summer month “in figures that go back to 1947”…
Per Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it’s also the largest monthly increase ever recorded in a summer month (June-August), in figures that go back to 1947.
The other day, I wrote about how beef has become so expensive that it is now considered to be a “luxury”.
Well, now vegetables are a “luxury” too.
And let’s not forget coffee.
The price of coffee went up by 25 percent in just three months, and that was before coffee exports from Brazil were hit with a 50 percent tariff…
Coffee prices were already up before a 50 percent tariff on Brazil, the top coffee importer to the U.S., went into effect last week.
Coffee prices sharply rose 25 percent over the past three months, according to inflation data released Tuesday. Reuters reported Tuesday that Brazilian coffee exports have started seeing postponements to their U.S. shipments.
About two-thirds of all U.S. adults drink coffee.
This is one of the most basic things that Americans buy.
But now a lot of people are either going to have to cut back or stop drinking it entirely because it has become so ridiculously expensive.
Air conditioning is rapidly becoming a “luxury” as well.
Electricity prices have been rising twice as fast as the overall rate of inflation, and some seniors must now choose between paying the electricity bill and paying for medication…
Across the country, electricity prices have jumped more than twice as fast as the overall cost of living in the last year. That’s especially painful during the dog days of summer, when air conditioners are working overtime.
In Pembroke Pines, Fla., Al Salvi’s power bill can reach $500 a month.
“There’s a lot of seniors down here that are living check to check. They can barely afford prescriptions such as myself,” says Salvi, who’s 63 and uses a wheelchair. “Now we got to decide whether we’re going to pay the electric bill or are we going to buy medication. And it’s not fair to us. You’re squeezing us between a rock and a hard place.”
As our leaders were borrowing trillions upon trillions of dollars that we did not have, I warned that this was going to cause rampant inflation, but a lot of people out there didn’t want to listen.
And as the Federal Reserve was pumping trillions upon trillions of dollars that they created out of thin air into the financial system, I warned that this was going to cause rampant inflation, but a lot of people out there didn’t want to listen.
At first it seemed like our leaders were totally getting away with it.
But now look at what has happened.
There are countless videos on TikTok right now of people breaking down emotionally over the rising cost of living.
In one video, a woman that feels like she is “drowning” explains that no matter how hard she works “she can’t afford to live anymore”…
The video made by “diannaallen5” for TikTok was shared on X by @WallStreetApes to their 1 million X followers, writing, “Americans are breaking down, a grown woman crying because she can’t afford to live anymore.”
The woman in the video, who said she is from Illinois, was distraught and in tears as she spoke, saying that “gas prices and the electric bills and the prices of food is just so overwhelming.”
“I’m wondering if anybody else is feeling like they’re drowning and they can’t get out,” she said. “I work overtime, and I cannot get above water. I mean, I literally have no gas for next week.”
“I’m just wondering if anybody else feels like they’re drowning,” she said is despair.
Can you identify with her?
I think that a lot of us can.
At this stage, 83 percent of all Americans are experiencing “stressflation”…
A LifeStance Health survey released today reveals “stressflation” is affecting most Americans, with 83% reporting financial stress driven by inflation, mass layoffs, the rising cost of living and recession fears. Millennials and Gen Z report the most significant mental health impacts.
The number of respondents who have been deterred from seeking mental health care due to financial constraints remains consistently high (60%), increasing two percentage points from 2024. Those experiencing high financial stress levels are more than twice as likely to forgo mental health treatment due to cost, highlighting a mental health gap where financial strain exacerbates mental health challenges while limiting access to care.
We should have seen this coming way in advance, because we were specifically warned that this was coming.
And if we stay on the same road that we have been traveling, conditions will get a whole lot worse.
A lot of people out there don’t seem to understand that consequences do not always show up immediately.
What we are experiencing now is the result of decades of bad decisions.
It took time for the consequences of those bad decisions to materialize, but now they have officially started to arrive.
* * *
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Gas? As in gasoline?? ...has been pretty stable here in the mid-south USA, recently.
OTOH, items such as canned green beans, a staple for me, have gone through the roof.
Many thanks for the proclamations but would The Economic Collapse Blog say anything different?
I’m sure there is no bias in a blog titled “The Economic Collapse Blog.” Haha
I’m sure there is no bias in a blog titled “The Economic Collapse Blog.” Haha
Wholesale vs. Retail Prices
• The Producer Price Index (PPI) for vegetables soared 38.9% from June to July 2025—an unprecedented spike for that period  .
• Despite this, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for fruits and vegetables was unchanged from June to July 2025, and remains up only 0.2% over the past 12 months
>> Do you feel knots in your stomach due to financial stress?
No.
>> I’m sure there is no bias in a blog titled “The Economic Collapse Blog.” Haha
Stop it! Don’t be so reflexively cynical.
Look at their track record! “The Economic Collapse Blog” has ACCURATELY!! predicted 147 of the last two economic collapses.
I grow my own vegetables, as much as possible.
I’ve always been mellow about it, often letting weeds and pests have their way with it, but plan on getting more diligent with it. I’m slowly transitioning from flat garden rows to raised beds. Watering is an issue, but I am experimenting with drip hoses.
I have a lot of seeds, which have also gone up in price steeply, but if stored well, can last several seasons, depending on type.
I’ve been planting store bought potatoes when they grow eyes, both Irish and sweet, with very good, abundant results, enough to eat and save some for replanting.
I am drowning in cukes and zucchini this year and tomatoes are doing pretty good too.
...we don’t drink coffee!
The canned green bean prices may be due to Del Monte going out of business.
I am really getting into seed saving..most of my tomatoes are from seeds I saved...however,I am going to try a few hybrids next year...I would encourage people to save pepper seeds or over winter pepper plants because regular green pepper plants were hard to find this year and they were spendy.
And the sole reason is because the MSM in their bid to destroy President Trump, is pushing fear porn and lying to us about the statistics.
Just like they gaslit us under biden that the economy was great.
We are too- totally banner year for them- we are having to,give some away even, got a table at end of the
Driveway with a “free” sign on it for the veggies. We.re in the north east. Last year we didn’t get even 1/2 of what we got this year
Turnips are RIDICULOUSLY easy to grow.
This has been a rough summer for us and the pests seems to be a bigger issue than usual. But still gardening is very therapeutic besides the benefit of growing and eating your own fresh, mostly untreated produce. Most of mine qualifies as *organic* and I can or freeze or store (potatoes, onions, garlic) as possible;
For anyone interested in trying even container gardening on a porch in the city, check out Diana in Wisconsin’s gardening threads.
Seeds from hybrids do not breed true or are often infertile;
Hybrids are great for finding new varieties to enjoy and the seeds my be purchased regularly.
Anybody remember when a can of tomato soup was 10 cents?
...predicted the last 29 of the 4 recessions.
Don’t eat tomato soup, but I remember Campbell’s chicken noodle was 3 cans for 25 cents.
I remember buying a sixpack of beer for 15 cents.
And I also remember buying gas for 5.9 cents per gallon, but it was a local gas war. Regular price was 15.9 cents per gallon.
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