Inflation isn’t new, but price rises can still shock. I recently holidayed in the Hamptons, a tony beach area outside New York, where I was stunned to pay $800 for a single shopping cart of groceries. This wasn’t at some foodie emporium, but rather at the IGA, which is the American equivalent of the UK’s Tesco. Food prices are up everywhere, but in places like this, they have reached nosebleed levels. Wealthy locals and vacation shoppers notice, but seem not to curb their spending. Everyone else is travelling an hour or more to get groceries outside the resort areas, ordering dry goods from Costco and growing their own produce.
通貨膨脹并不是什么新鮮事，但價格上漲仍然會令人震驚。最近，我在紐約郊外時尚海濱小鎮漢普頓(Hamptons)度假，一購物車的食品雜貨居然花了800美元，讓我十分震驚。那并不是什么美食商場，而是IGA，相當于英國的樂購(Tesco)。世界各地的食品價格都在上漲，但在這樣的地方，價格之高簡直令人咋舌。