Why Is Everything So Expensive? (Groceries Up 34% Since 2020)

Описание: Your grocery cart costs about a third more than it did in 2020 - and no, you're not imagining it. In this video we break down where the price jump actually came from (supply chains, the money firehose, the energy shock, tariffs), why prices almost never come back down, why it feels worse than the official 3.7% inflation rate, and the one trick stores play in plain sight: shrinkflation.

Sources and method (the numbers used in this video):
Overall CPI +29.8%, Jan 2020 (259.1) to Sep 2026 (336.3); year-over-year Sep 2026: 3.7% (BLS Consumer Price Index via FRED, CPIAUCSL)
Groceries (food at home) +34.1% since Jan 2020 (BLS via FRED, CPIUFDSL); shelter costs +34.4% (FRED, CUSR0000SEHC); national home prices +55.5% Jan 2020 to Aug 2026 (S&P/Case-Shiller via FRED, CSUSHPISA)
Eggs: $1.46/dozen Jan 2020, $2.27 Sep 2026, peak $4.82 Jan 2023; gasoline: $2.57/gal Jan 2020, $4.48 Sep 2026, peak $5.06 Jun 2022 (BLS Average Price Data via FRED, APU0000708111 / APU000074714)
Money supply (M2): $15.4T Jan 2020 to $23.4T Sep 2026, +52% (Federal Reserve via FRED, M2SL); roughly $5 trillion of pandemic relief enacted 2020-2021 (CARES Act, December 2020 package, American Rescue Plan; Tax Policy Center / CRFB totals)
Inflation peak: 9.1% YoY June 2022, largest in 40 years (BLS); in the 1970s CPI roughly doubled, 37.9 Jan 1970 to 78.0 Jan 1980 (FRED, CPIAUCSL)
Average US tariff rate about 11%, estimated cost over $1,000/year for the typical household (Yale Budget Lab, "The State of U.S. Tariffs", Aug 2026)
Median usual weekly earnings of full-time workers: $951/week Q1 2020 to $1,239/week Q3 2026, +30.3% (BLS via FRED, LES1252881500Q)
Shrinkflation: BLS tracks product package sizes in the CPI and publishes a research series with and without size changes (BLS Beyond the Numbers, "Getting less for the same price?"; R-CPI-SC)
High-yield savings rates around 4-5% (Bankrate / NerdWallet best-account roundups, Nov 2026)
The $100-to-$134 cart is an illustration built on the +34% grocery average; your exact cart differs. The $100 figure is a round-number baseline, not a measured household basket.

Chapters:
0:00 Your $100 cart
0:25 The official scoreboard
1:21 Four villains, teamed up
1:26 Cause one: the world stopped making stuff
2:22 Cause four: tariffs
2:43 The trick stores play (teaser)
2:55 Why prices won't come back down
3:47 Why it feels worse than 3.7%
4:27 TVs vs eggs
5:27 Shrinkflation
5:51 Who inflation hurts (and helps)
6:17 What actually makes things cheaper
6:52 What you can do
7:27 Some perspective
7:55 Next: why is gold worth so much?

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#personalfinance #inflation #moneyhistory