Difference in luxury.

"US consumer prices increased solidly in February amid higher costs for gasoline and shelter, suggesting some stickiness in inflation that further diminishes the chances of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut before June." "Inflation-weary Americans got some relief from their supermarket and medical bills." Reuters. "In February, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all All Urban Consumers increased 0.4 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.2 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted." bis.gov. "Consumer inflation posted a surprise acceleration in February," "while the 'core' measure stripping out volatile food and energy prices edged down slightly to 3.8 percent." "The Fed has signaled it could start reducing rates this year, so long there is continued progress in lowering inflation." ET. "There has been a lot of theorizing why so many Americans feel worse off economically. True, real wages are now finally increasing, the labor market is great, the stock market is up, and consumers are spending. But none of this amounts to a complete picture of Americans' quality of life." "According to the US Department of Agriculture, spending on food took up more than 11% of income in 2022, the latest year for which data is available - the highest in 30 years." ET. In India, CPI inflation fell by 0.01% to 5.09% in February from 5.10% in January. ET.  While, expenditure on food fell to 46.4% of household budgets in rural areas and to 39.2% in urban areas in 2022-23, "marking it as the first instance where the number fell below 50% in rural India. On the contrary, share of expenditure on conveyance both in urban and rural areas experienced a sharp increase, making it the largest non-food sub-category." Outlook. In India, "Retail food inflation rose to 8.66% in February 2024 from 8.3% previous month due to sequential rise in vegetable and meat prices." "Annual food inflation in February 2023 was 5.95% on year." FE. Thus, not only do Indians spend around 40% of their household budget on food compared to 11% for Americans, the food prices in India rose 8.66% last month on top of a 5.95% rise in February last year. Partly, this is due to the reason why Indians are also spending more on conveyance, which is the enormous taxes on fuel. Meat and vegetables are transported by trucks which run on diesel. In Delhi, the price of diesel at the pump is Rs 89.66 per liter, while the price without tax is just Rs 58.15 per liter. cleartax.in. Taxes amount to Rs 31.51 per liter of diesel which is 54.19% of its cost. This is after, "Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Singhy Puri, announced...that the government forewent approximately Rs 2.2 lakh crore (Rs 2.2 trillion) in revenue due to cuts in excise duty on petrol and diesel from November 2021 to May 2022." TOI. In the US, "Luxuries becoming more commonplace was a big theme of the 20th century." "Once these luxuries became common, they ceased to be luxuries. Taking them away, or pricing them like luxuries, registers to many people as a big drop in their standard of living." For Indians, food is becoming a luxury. Also, traveling to buy that food.