The Real Cost of Living: When a $28 Toastie Becomes the Last Straw
The breaking point came yesterday at a café in Landsborough. $28 for a toastie and coffee. That’s the moment when all the frustrations about rising costs crystallized into something that couldn’t be ignored anymore. When did we normalize these prices? When did we start accepting this as our new reality?
Looking at my household expenses over the past couple of years paints a grim picture. Home insurance premiums jumped 60% in two years, forcing me to switch providers. Now I’m switching again because they’ve tacked on another 24% increase. The weekly grocery bill that used to hover around $280 during COVID now regularly exceeds $400. And don’t get me started on electricity bills – each quarter brings a fresh wave of sticker shock.
The standard response from economists and politicians is that inflation is “cooling down” to around 2%. But this completely misses the point. When prices have already skyrocketed, a slower rate of increase doesn’t help much with the damage already done. It’s like saying the house isn’t burning quite as quickly anymore, while we’re still standing in the ashes.
What’s particularly frustrating is watching major corporations post record profits while everyday people struggle with basic expenses. The duopoly of our major supermarket chains, the astronomical margins of insurance companies, and the predatory practices of our airlines and banks all point to a system that’s fundamentally broken. The ACCC seems toothless in the face of what looks suspiciously like coordinated price gouging.
Sure, some will argue it’s all about post-COVID supply chain issues or global economic pressures. But when you see the same companies that blame these factors for price increases simultaneously announcing massive profits and executive bonuses, it’s hard not to feel like we’re being taken for a ride.
The Reserve Bank’s approach of hiking interest rates to combat inflation feels like treating a bullet wound with a band-aid. While Michelle Bullock and the RBA board deliberate over percentage points, real people are making real sacrifices. Some of my tech industry colleagues are actually hoping for another rate hike, believing the pain of higher mortgage payments is preferable to the death by a thousand cuts that is current inflation.
The solution isn’t simple, but it starts with acknowledging that our current regulatory framework isn’t fit for purpose. We need stronger oversight of essential services pricing, real competition in key markets, and perhaps most importantly, a serious conversation about wage growth in relation to corporate profits.
For now, I’m doing what many others are – shopping around for better deals on insurance, buying groceries from smaller retailers and local markets, and being more mindful about discretionary spending. But individual action can only go so far when the system itself needs an overhaul.
The next time someone tells me inflation is “only” 2%, I might just show them my insurance renewal notice. Or better yet, invite them out for a $28 toastie and coffee. Sometimes the absurd speaks louder than statistics.