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YES, THE PRICE OF EGGS MATTERS  
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David Dayen
February 14, 2025
American Prospect
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_ Consumer sentiment is falling off a cliff in the early Trump
period. _

When it comes to the price of eggs, there’s little difference
between President Trump neglecting a supply chain problem and
neglecting a competition problem., Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP
Images

 

With several federal agencies gutted and the basic structure of
American government being trashed in favor of centralized
authoritarian power, I can see how pointing to the price of eggs can
sound mismatched for the political moment. Plenty of progressives have
shaken their heads at Chuck Schumer
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and Hakeem Jeffries
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becoming egg market analysts at a time when the strings holding up
democracy are being cut.

But you go to war with the constituency you have. The economy and
inflation specifically topped voter concerns in 2024. More broadly,
people have become disillusioned by consistently changing political
leadership
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and getting few tangible results in their daily lives. My colleague
Bob Kuttner has lamented
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how “popular support for constitutional democracy [has become]
contingent, instrumental, transactional,” but he notes this is a
by-product of voters not getting much for their votes for the past
40-plus years. Today, they’ve turned to whatever strongman promises
them something different in a desperate search for an answer. If
disabusing them of that delusion manifests in the price of eggs, so be
it.

This effort will only be successful, however, if the connections are
made to Donald Trump’s policies, and, really, his neglect of his own
voters’ concerns. When presidents are seen as unfocused on public
concerns, they lose support. That will lead people to pay attention to
what _is_ consuming all the administration’s time, like searching
for “DEI” in government documents, taking over the Kennedy Center,
or threatening to blow up the economy
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by accident.

The public has caught on to the effects of Trump’s distractions,
ahead of the politicians, as usual. The University of Michigan’s
consumer survey for February [[link removed]] is at its
lowest overall reading since last summer, and inflation expectations
in particular jumped a full point to 4.3 percent, the highest reading
in over a year. Other surveys
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of consumer sentiment
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have also captured this pessimism from the public; more Americans now
believe the stock market will fall
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than at any time since November 2023.

You can see why Americans would feel gloomy
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with the talk of trade wars, market turbulence, and yes, those signs
in their grocery stores limiting egg purchases to one dozen. Worse
yet, future expectations of inflation can be self-fulfilling
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producers often set their prices based on what they estimate the
market to bear; and if people are expecting to pay more, that factors
into their analysis. Expectations can also help determine future
wages, which can set in motion a wage-price spiral.

Per statistics released this week
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inflation increased to 3 percent in January for the first time since
last June, and producer prices were elevated as well
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Some of that is because of the 15 percent jump in egg prices
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in a month. The popular theory would attribute that to avian flu
outbreaks and the mass culling of egg-laying hens. But there are a
couple of things to say about that, neither of which reflect well on
the Trump administration.

Even if you believe that this is purely a supply-driven phenomenon,
the fact that the administration is hacking away at science and
forcing the people tasked with responding to avian flu out of the
government [[link removed]]
is a bad sign, especially as avian flu mutations have begun to skip to
cows
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Ignoring a growing outbreak is a familiar position for Trump, and like
the pandemic, this is likely to spark higher prices. In a world with
routine climate disasters, geopolitical unrest, and pathogens, we’re
going to have plenty of supply shocks
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stay on top of, which isn’t really on the mind of our president and
his top officials.

But there is a compelling theory that egg producers, which are quite
concentrated, are taking advantage of inflation expectations to jack
up prices, despite their actually having plenty of capacity. Farm
Action has asked the Federal Trade Commission for an investigation
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into how a lack of competition is leading to rising egg prices, noting
that the egg-laying flock was only 5 percent smaller in 2024 than it
was in 2021, even as prices have jumped 12-fold during that time. The
drop in flocks has not been rebuilt with the same speed as it was
after prior flu outbreaks, either. And entry into the market is a
higher barrier, with gatekeepers controlling the supply of the hens.

There’s little difference, however, between Trump neglecting a
supply chain problem and neglecting a competition problem. When
pressed in her confirmation hearing
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deal with egg producer consolidation, his nominee for the Justice
Department’s Antitrust Division, Gail Slater, immediately cited the
supply shock and made vague noises toward a meaningless Trump
executive order to look into price reductions. “I want you to focus
on the industry, not on the memorandum,” replied Sen. Richard
Blumenthal (D-CT).

Moreover, the kinds of things Trump touted on the campaign trail to
fight inflation aren’t working. The big one was that he would drill,
baby, drill, and lower costs through abundant energy. But the energy
producers aren’t playing along: They do not want to increase
production
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and thereby degrade their prices. Some of the high-profile actions he
is taking, like threatening tariffs, are only setting inflation
expectations higher.

Others show his disinterest in the issue altogether. “Trump Tempers
Tone on Slaying Inflation
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is not a headline that will age well. When you’ve boasted for years
that you alone can fix everything wrong with America on day one, and
then once you get in office you backpedal and say that things take
time, people may well get the feeling they’ve been cheated.

On top of this, Trump is firing workers wholesale, and pursuing
policies with negative knock-on effects for the economy. Ford has
talked about layoffs
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if Trump withdraws support for the electric-vehicle sector. Chevron is
planning to slash
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up to 20 percent of its global workforce, and the retail apocalypse
continues with craft store Joann closing 500 locations
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Liberals are wondering what can possibly slow down this reign of
terror by the Trump-Musk faction. Some ask Democrats to fight harder,
some hope the courts or another _deus ex machina_ will stop him. But
the public mood can also check the presidency. And while Trump’s
still in his honeymoon period—with a historically low approval
rating compared to other early presidencies—it won’t last forever.

The time will come when people, fed up with a weaker economy and
higher prices, start to wonder why this unelected billionaire they
don’t like
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has all this authority, and what a new name for the Gulf of Mexico is
doing for their lives, and maybe even why the president is seizing
Congress’s spending power. Keep watching that consumer sentiment
line as it plunges down, at the same pace as the emperor’s clothes
start to fall to the wayside.

David Dayen is the Prospect’s executive editor. His work has
appeared in The Intercept, The New Republic, HuffPost, The Washington
Post, the Los Angeles Times, and more. His most recent book is
‘Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power.’

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS ARTICLE, please consider making a tax-deductible
donation today
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For over 30 years, _The American Prospect_ has delivered independent
reporting that exposes corporate power, investigates political
corruption, and analyzes threats to our democracy. Unlike many media
outlets, we’re not owned by billionaires or corporations—we’re
powered by readers like you.

* Trump
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* consumer prices
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