Over the last few weeks, I've seen gasoline prices drop a bit (from $4.50 to $4 here in Texas), and restaurants are not as full as they used to be.  In other words, we don't wait long for a table anymore.

I guess I'm not alone in seeing this.  According to this story in Daily Mail, it's happening:

Nearly two thirds of Americans have cut back on restaurants, movies and other fun nights out, according to a survey offering the latest snapshot of how 40-year-high inflation is causing widespread economic pain.

Some 65 percent of respondents said they were spending less on concerts and other types of entertainment, while another 61 percent said they were driving less — with the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline still above $4.50.

More than 4 in 10 are spending less on groceries, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey of 800 people earlier this month, and about a third are using their credit cards more often to make it through the crunch.

Shoppers are spending less on everyday basics like bread, eggs and milk as well as processed goods like juice boxes, according to another study by NielsenIQ. Cereals alone have risen in price by a jaw-dropping 15.1 per cent.

Inflation reached a 40-year high of 9.1 percent last month, according to the government's consumer price index, as people across the U.S. struggled to make ends meet and complained about the painful cutbacks they had to make.

The reality of sky-high inflation on families across the U.S. was revealed by DailyMail.com on Friday. Mark Storti, from Avoca, Wisconsin, said his household, on a fixed annual income of about $50,000, was spending an extra $4,500 this year compared to 2021 — mostly due to rising energy, gas and food prices.

It makes total sense.  Back in January 2021, we filled our tank for $35.  It's over $60 now.  You don't need a Ph.D. in economics to realize that we have $20 less to spend on eating out or a baseball game.  Add to the gasoline everything else, and pretty soon your wife is screaming every time she returns from the neighborhood grocery.  What hasn't gone up?

Of course, the inflation is transitory, or is that 2021 news?

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"Mean tweets" collage by Andrea Widburg.