Cardi B’s NSFW advice on inflation
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
Even millionaires are noticing that grocery shopping has become really expensive. Just listen to Cardi B.
The rapper posted an expletive-laden video rant on Twitter asking “anybody that is responsible” to lower grocery prices because they’ve recently been “tripling up.”
She said she noticed the skyrocketing prices from a “summary” of money spent in her home every week, prompting her to ask “what the f**k is going on?” So, she said she had to see with her own eyes, and went to a grocery store to see the prices for herself.
“Lettuce was like $2 a couple of months ago, and now it’s like f**king $7,” Cardi B said in the minute-long video. “Of course I’m going to say something: The f**k?!”
“I think that sh*t is crazy,” she added, sympathizing with “middle-class people or people in the hood” about the increase in grocery prices.
Cardi B used her platform, consisting of nearly 30 million followers on Twitter, to ask the higher-ups to “put that sh*t the f**k down.” She added that if those responsible for the high prices were to see her post, they might “put it down.”
Her advice during these times? Budgeting, because if you don’t, you’re “going to go broke soon.”
The video is the latest impromptu economic observation from Cardi B, who has previously focused on the lack of housing inventory and the rising cost of living. A few days ago the rapper, worth at least $40 million, tweeted that “grocery shopping prices are ridiculous right now … You might as well eat outside!!”
US food inflation has sparked a cost-of-living crisis. In the year through November, food got 10.6% more expensive, with grocery prices rising 12% and menu prices jumping 8.5%, not adjusted for seasonal swings, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently said. In that same period, overall inflation rose 7.1%.
Despite Cardi B’s pleas, food prices are hard to control, since they’re affected by a number of factors including extreme weather, diseases impacting crops and livestock, supply chain complications and geopolitical unrest such as the war in Ukraine. That can make it more difficult for the US government to use tactics like raising interest rates to moderate food prices.
However, many big corporations have offset those costs by raising prices on consumers, as lawmakers including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have frequently highlighted, saying the price hikes are “driven by corporate greed.”
When a Cardi B fan asked if the video will decrease prices, the rapper said: “Not necessarily cause of me, but if we bring enough awareness to inflation you never know.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
