The $20 burrito debate is a sign of inflation fatigue

The latest consumer price index report showed supermarket inflation running well above the old “normal.” Ditto restaurant inflation. The pain is most noticeable in the produce section, where the past six months have been marked by a succession of price spikes in tomatoes, lettuce and currently apples. Before that, it was coffee, beef and, for a real throwback, eggs.

These events can feel idiosyncratic: The lettuce crop was hit by a heat wave in Arizona (driving up prices before Cyclospora drove them down); beef prices were pushed up by the New World screwworm cattle parasite; and Florida’s tomato crop was hit by a cold snap. But it’s no coincidence that these “one-off” force-majeure-type episodes suddenly seem so frequent and quickly reflected in prices. A litany of bad policy decisions from the Trump administration has made the producers and purveyors of these products more susceptible to the shocks that nature inevitably hoists upon us.

And once passed on, corporations are loath to bring prices back down after the shock fades.