Gabriel T. Rubin authored an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday entitled: To Save Money, Maybe You Should Skip Breakfast. In the article, the journalist suggested that Americans not eat in order to save money.
Rubin went a step further in defending his claim. As explained in the WSJ article, several essential products that Americans eat for breakfast have increased in price due to "a perfect storm of bad weather and disease outbreaks, and the continuing effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
Increase in the price of basic food goods
One example of such price increases is eggs, whose price increased by 8.5% in January compared to December 2022 and grew by 70.1% in the last year, the highest annual increase since 1973. Rubin also noted that juices and non-carbonated beverages saw a 1.5% price increase in January over the previous month. In 12 months, the newspaper notes, these foods rose 12.4%, the highest in a decade. The list goes on: grains were up 0.4% for the month and 15% year-over-year, and a series of unfavorable weather conditions, such as two storms and a citrus disease caused Florida's orange crops to have their smallest harvest in almost 90 years.
Only coffee is spared. In the last month, notes WSJ, its price fell by 0.1% compared to December 2022. However, the article warns that this decrease is only in roasted coffee, since the price of instant coffee did register a 3.6% monthly increase. According to Rubin, the best thing Americans can do is to limit themselves to just a cup of coffee for breakfast in order to save money in their daily lives.
Rain of criticism
The article was met with loads of controversy. Many used it as justification to blame the Biden administration for its economic mismanagement. One of them was Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, who claimed that the article is hard evidence of the federal government's mismanagement.
Skipping meals to make ends meet?
This is how badly Biden’s economy is beating down average Americans.https://t.co/WJegLYW5UN
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) February 15, 2023
The Republican Party joined the wave of criticism, claiming in a tweet that this was just proof of how the Democratic Party believed it could solve the economic crisis:
How the Left thinks you can combat rising prices in Joe Biden’s America:
“Just skip breakfast!”
“Just get two jobs!”
“Just don’t retire yet!”
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) February 15, 2023
Along with them, many Americans joined in on social media to criticize Republicans and also opposed the Wall Street Journal's advice to skip the day's most important meal:
they first came for your coffee... then your avocados... now they want you to skip the entire breakfast... https://t.co/iQmu0lBMke
— Manan 🤦🏽♂️ (@manan) February 15, 2023
To save money, don’t eat 😅
Thanks WSJ ... 🤡 🌎 pic.twitter.com/7JIgW9Tyhx
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) February 15, 2023
I can’t afford to read the article telling me not to eat to save money https://t.co/L2cLohaa1t
— someone’s mom (@bustelo4babies) February 15, 2023
