Apr 10, 2008 -- International inflation to hurt American wallets
The World Bank estimates that the cost of food is up 83% over 3 years! Not all of this increase has translated into U.S. supermarkets yet. At the same time, half of all the things we import now come from the Third World where inflation is rising. Foreign inflation will come back to bite us in the form of higher prices on imported goods. So we as consumers have to make a decision between things we'd like to have and things we need to have. In the former category, you have things like electronics and clothing. It might be a good time to take a step back from buying. Fashion-forward retailer Target has just reported rotten sales for March, so that's a sign that some shoppers have already begun dialing back. Meanwhile, food falls into the latter category of things we need to have. So for food items, try brand substitution or buying the store brands at the market.
Unfortunately, Clark won't be able to answer any questions submitted via commenting. If you have a question, please try posting it to our message boards.