Aug 1, 2022
Sheldon Jacobson, a University of illinois professor who specializes in operations research, discusses shrinkflation -- where companies hold prices steady but reduce packaging sizes as a means of disguising rising costs -- and says that while the trend is prevalent right now, it works poorly in high-inflation markets because consumers are only caught unaware for a moment. While consumers wake up to the trend and focus on unit prices, Jacobson says that shrinkflation has heavy costs on society, increasing packaging costs, waste production and more that are largely ignored. The show today also looks at the latest "mind the Gap" study from Morningstar with Amy Arnott, portfolio strategist for the research firm, who says that consumers continue seeing their personal performance lag behind the results of the funds they own, a sign of chasing performance and having poor timing results. In the Danger Zone segment, investment analyst Kyle Guske focuses on Beyond Meat, another "zombie stock" being pushed to the edge of bankruptcy by rising interest rates and changing economic conditions, and in the Market Call, Chris McMahon, president of Aquinas Wealth, makes his debut on the show and talks stock investing.