A global economic downturn is a frightening thing. It’s just as intimidating trying to understand and explain it.
Luckily for MLive readers, we have storytellers on the job, rather than econ professors. The results are pieces like this – explaining food cost inflation through a chocolate chip cookie recipe, or the difficulties in being able to afford a new home through the eyes of a Millennial.
That first story is by Rose White, and the second by Lindsay Moore. They cover economic, labor and business issues on MLive’s statewide reporting team. Together this year they have written scores of articles on the biggest story of 2022, all with a focus on making the complex more relatable.
“Rose and I look at each other every week and say, ‘What are people talking about at the kitchen table?’" Moore said. “Can I sell my house? Can I buy a house? Why is my grocery bill so high? Why can’t I afford to do anything fun anymore?”
The answers are in a vast and complex web of trends, circumstances and ongoing news stories around the world: The war in Ukraine, supply chain shortages, consumer confidence, a hurricane here and an oil refinery fire there.
But where it hits home is something as simple as the cost of bacon – a story White continues to track.
“Inflation and the economy are sort of these big, nebulous topics that are hard to wrap your head around,” she said. “But one element of inflation that people are really feeling the pain of is their grocery bill.”
Her story detailing the impact of the recession on each ingredient in a chocolate chip cookie touched on everything that is happening in the world, and those factors are shrinking the buying power of the average Michigan family.
“Going through all of those (recipe) items touched on the geopolitical influences – the war in Ukraine, India’s sugar exports. Also, general supply chain issues and ‘X factors’ like the avian flu, which caused egg prices to skyrocket,” White said.
MLive made a conscious decision early this year to shift reporting resources away from the last big global story – COVID – toward economic and finance issues facing everyday people. As with our COVID coverage, we seek to reduce a complex and fluid issue into relatable and practical information people can use to make important decisions.
But COVID remains a big part of the story. It upended global industrial output, computer chip availability, travel and tourism, financial markets and more. And it’s still out there – China remains under rigid COVID restrictions, which affects world trade.
“We always point our finger back to COVID,” Moore said. “Unemployment is low, people are still spending money and yet, inflation is historically high and nothing seems to make sense. Some of that is because we're coming out of this unprecedented global pandemic.”
Another unique perspective that Moore and White bring to their reporting is that they both are Millennials, a generation of Americans that has been put behind the 8 Ball in ways that Baby Boomers weren’t. Even though the older Millennials are now at age 40, they have been denied opportunities to build savings, own homes and more.
“There are 1.5 million student loan borrowers in Michigan holding an average of $36,000 in debt – the majority are Millennials or Gen Z,” Moore said, noting that a COVID moratorium on loan payments expires at the end of the year and that most borrowers owe far more than the $10,000 in loan forgiveness pledged by President Joe Biden.
“They're going to start payments in January in this high inflationary period – facing higher grocery bills, higher rent and wages that aren't keeping up with these things. You can't really take out a mortgage when you've got 30,000, $40,000 in student debt.”
MLive has packaged all of its inflation reporting here. The series relies as much on reader feedback and suggestions from their lives as it does our journalistic judgment; you can make suggestions for topics to cover by emailing [email protected].
“We really do love when readers actually engage and ask us questions, because it makes the job a little bit easier,” Moore said.
🎧 In this week's episode of Behind the Headlines podcast Rose White and Lindsay Moore stop by to talk with John Hiner and Eric Hultgren about the many facets of the economy that impact Michiganders. Listen here on Spotify or here on Apple.
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John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at [email protected].
