Americans got a bit of a reprieve last month, as food and auto prices dipped for the first time in 90 days.

As Texas households continue to deal with high food costs, the latest report from the Federal Trade Commission showed some major retailers unnecessarily increased prices during the pandemic in 2020 and are still reaping the benefits of inflated prices.

Angela Huffman, president of the nonprofit Farm Action, said although supply-chain problems have been largely fixed, Amazon, Kroger and Walmart continue to show high profit margins.

"These companies made money over and above their total costs," Huffman pointed out. "It's one thing to raise your prices to cover higher expenses that you're facing, sure, but what these companies did is use the pandemic as an excuse to exploit the American people."

The report found the pandemic exposed bottlenecks up and down the supply chain, as firms struggled to maintain their output and feed the nation. The average Texas household spends about $286 a week on groceries, and a new report from the nonprofit Feeding America showed Texas is one of the most food-insecure states in the nation.

The reports come as pandemic-era food subsidies have expired and many families are struggling to make ends meet. The FTC did not offer recommendations on how to keep companies from raising prices during a crisis or issue any penalties or fines.

Huffman argued the big grocers have become monopolies with too much influence and power.

"This will be kind of the farthest extent of what they could do but go so far as breaking them up," Huffman pointed out. "In years past, they broke up the telephone companies and the railroads and you know that would be the ideal outcome for us, is to take away their excessive power. But other than that, these companies, they can be fined for this kind of price gouging."

The FTC report found retailer profits rose to 6% over total costs in 2021, and 7% in the first three quarters of 2023, compared to 5.6% in 2015.


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Summer is here, but some Wisconsin households juggling higher consumer costs and other basic needs might feel like a vacation is out of reach. A regional expert says careful planning could still allow for some time away from the daily grind.

Economists are more optimistic these days when it comes to inflation trending downward, but child-care expenses and higher housing payments remain a burden on household finances.

Wisconsin-based travel agent Elise Roeschlein said if you're wrestling with the idea of heading out of town, there are ways to stretch your travel budget. One example is booking lodging that comes with a complimentary breakfast.

"Sometimes, the bigger chains include the breakfast, and the littler ones - like the motels - don't," she said. "So, you might spend a couple dollars more in the hotel, but you're saving that money. Especially if you've got kids, they always want to eat breakfast."

Roeschlein said you can also grab some snacks from that breakfast to take on your daily adventures. And if you're planning a relatively short road trip, such as a few days in a nearby lake town, she recommended packing food before you drive off to avoid spending money on drinks and other items at gas stations along the way.

For households with a little more wiggle room for a trip farther from home, Roeschlein said it's not too late to book flights or hotels for later in the summer. But she recommends acting now to keep costs lower.

"I would say book ahead, if you can," she said, "because when you're doing last-minute travel, it tends to be a little more expensive."

For those sticking with the road but are worried their vehicle won't make the trip, analysts have said car rental prices have come down a bit since their post-pandemic spike in 2021. Roeschlein said if possible, plan a trip with another family to split those rental costs, along with other expenses.


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Consumer advocates are coming out against a bill to regulate the cryptocurrency market, saying it is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act would give regulatory power to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission instead of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mark Hays, senior policy analyst for the nonprofits Demand Progress and Americans for Financial Reform, said it would be a mistake.

"You're basically creating a more permissive regulatory regime that allows crypto businesses to do basically what they do with a patina of protection," Hays pointed out. "But it actually doesn't provide the same kind of protections you get if you simply dealt with them the way we do now."

Supporters of the bill said it creates robust consumer protections and provides regulatory certainty for the growing industry to flourish. The bill passed the U.S. House last month with majority Republican votes but also some support from progressive Democrats, including Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif.

Kevin Stein, chief of legal and strategy for the nonprofit RISE Economy, said lawmakers should put the needs of vulnerable consumers first.

"There are all these horror stories and consumer violations, so we need regulation," Stein argued. "The crypto industry put a lot of money and a lot of lobbying power into trying to get the rules that they want and that is always a recipe for disaster."

The U.S. Senate will now consider whether to take up the bill.

In an analysis of 100 cities across the United States, Cincinnati ranks 22nd for decreasing credit limits - not for the city itself, but for its residents.

Large drops in the average credit limit can indicate where people are having financial problems. According to Cassandra Happe, an analyst at WalletHub, when credit card issuers evaluate the profitability and risks of particular users, they may drop someone's credit limit to reduce their own risk and increase long-term profitability.

Happe said people should be aware of how a credit limit decrease can affect their overall financial well-being.

"Adjust your spending accordingly," she said, "so you don't end up hurting your credit score in the long run by spending more, when you have less available to spend."

She noted that Cincinnati saw a sizable drop in the last year, with individual credit limits being cut an average of more than 15%. In the same survey, Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland were near the middle of the rankings at 45th, 72nd and 80th, respectively.

Happe said this indicates people there are handling their accounts well and the credit card issuers aren't seeing a need to dial back those limits.

It's a good idea," she said, "for people to check their current credit limits, and make sure their balances aren't causing what's known as their "credit utilization" to be higher than it otherwise would be.

"If you're seeing that your balance is substantially higher in comparison to your limit," she said, "you may want to focus on paying down that balance, to ensure that you're not going to incur a lot of credit score damage."

The report shows that for accounts opened in the first quarter of this year, Cincinnati ranked 77th in average credit limit per user, indicating higher credit limits for these new account holders, compared with many other cities in the study.

This story was produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.