When White House adviser Brian Deese recently tried to explain away rising consumer inflation, insisting there is no inflation. James Antle at the Washington Examiner covered the kerfuffle:

About half of the overall increase in grocery prices can be attributed to a significant increase in prices in three products: in beef, in pork, and in poultry. And in beef and in pork, we’ve seen double-digit increases in prices over the last couple of months.

If you take out those three categories, we’ve actually seen price increases that are more in line with historical norms.

America Runs on Real Food, Not Tofu

Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, disagreed in a tweet:

Thank you, Brian Deese, for again proving why the rest of America cannot stand coastal elites.

NEWS FLASH: People in REAL AMERICA are impacted by the increase in beef, pork, and poultry prices. America doesn’t run on tofu; it runs on real food.

James Freeman allows that some consumers may agree with Rep. Donalds’s point about the impact of inflation. But by besmirching the honor of tofu, a confrontation is escalating quickly, with the advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for example, jumping into the food fuss.

Tofu evangelists, however, are not exempt from the ravages of inflation, Mr. Freeman adds:

Soybean futures have risen more than 20% in the past 12 months. And the White House’s Mr. Dees shouldn’t try to argue that only meat and meat substitutes are becoming more dear.

Mr. Freeman advises WSJ readers, whether preferring steak or fake, to “tell the big spenders in the White House and their enablers at the Federal Reserve to stop destroying the value of our currency.”

More dollars from the Fed are chasing goods that for a number of reasons are lately more difficult to produce.

Chain Disruption Affecting New Order Activity

From Norbert Ore of Strategies Research:

New order activity could be stronger if supply chain disruptions were less severe (i.e. labor disincentives, chip shortages, school closures, skill mismatches, high inflation)…

The lengthening and extremeness of delivery times is consistent with the recent news headlines about bottlenecks (i.e. halted production, port closures, astronomical freight rates, numerous cargo ships sitting at sea, worker shortages & strikes).

Vegan or anti-vegan, advises Mr. Freeman, “none of this is likely to make food less expensive.”