Stepping back from the numbers and into the realm of personal anecdotes: 1. I was listening the radio a couple weeks ago and the DJ invited people to call in a

Stepping back from the numbers and into the realm of personal anecdotes: 1. I was listening the radio a couple weeks ago and the DJ invited people to call in and talk about the mask mandate being lifted (in Toronto). Woman calls in, says she went to the grocery store, got three bags of groceries, $146. The dj asks "and... were people wearing masks?" "oh yeah, some were" says the woman before going on to explain how she paid $14.50 for a roll of aluminum foil. The topic was masks and the caller didn't even want to talk about that, the cost of goods was her top and only issue. 2. Standing in a park, an older gentleman is walking by with two small bags of groceries in his hands. I look at him to greet him as he passes, but he walks straight up to me as though he wants to address me. He stops in front of me, looks right in my eyes, lifts his groceries and says "FORTY DOLLARS! Too much money!!" (English was not his first language.) I directed him to the discount grocery, he confirmed that's where he is already shopping, and it's a green grocer with dry goods so I know his bags contained no (costly) meat, just vegetables and maybe some bread, pasta, or eggs. I frequently hear of "inflation" etc. on the news or economic reports, but this is different. I have never been approached by strangers on the street who are so frustrated and shocked by price hikes they couldn't walk all the way home without telling someone, even a stranger. This economic situation is different from any I have experienced in my ~40 years.