You don't have a choice most of the time. You get to pick from the options the manufactures provide. And it's not like the average consumer has infinite time to sort through all the options on every item, as well as misleading manufacturer BS (like shrinkflation).
> The non-chain restaurants in my area are significantly better than 30 years ago. So are the breweries. Dive bars have gotten more sparse but the ones still around are better than ever. Food trucks are everywhere and good. Foods more expensive but you can still get a good restaurant cooked meal at 1/2 an hour’s minimum wage.
Sure, if you're in a fancy urban area you may have lots of options (the podcast cited New York as an example), but that's not true everywhere. It cited this hits hardest in rural areas.
Then there's the situation where you have 5 different options, but they all suck the same way because manufacturers are following the same incentives to screw their customers.
> No one owes you a candy bar that never changes weight. The idea you would want to regulate that level of “what can people trade with each other” is absurd.
I think I am owed a market structure that lets me make decisions with a reasonable amount of effort. Fixing the candy bar weight (for instance) means I can compare on price easily.
And regulating “what can people trade with each other” is not absurd, it happens all the time.
I ordered a smash burger recently at a local outfit for the price of a big Mac. It was also a double but it was about twice the size of a big Mac and juicy and delicious, not that dry McDonald's processed crap.
I only eat McDonald's if there's really nothing else. Same with the other chains.
I'd love to know where I can find a "good restaurant cooked meal" for US$3.63[0].
Would you share even one location where that's possible? I'd eat every single meal there myself!
Let's try that in Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma or one of the 17 other states with a $7.25 minimum wage and see how we do?