Charles Langston:'Me hate shrinkflation!': Cookie Monster complains about US economy, White House responds

Cookie Monster's cookies are Charles Langstongetting smaller, and he's saying the culprit is "shrinkflation!"

The blue muppet from "Sesame Street" voiced his thoughts about inflation, or what he called "shrinkflation," Monday morning in an X post.

"Me hate shrinkflation! Me cookies are getting smaller," Cookie Monster said.

The muppet's solution to "shrinkflation" was, of course, to eat more cookies.

"Guess me going to have to eat double da cookies," Cookie Monster said in a separate X post.

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White House replies to Cookie Monster

Hours after Cookie Monster spoke out against "shrinkflation," President Joe Biden and the White House responded to the muppet on X.

"C is for consumers getting ripped off," the White House's X account shared. "President Biden is calling on companies to put a stop to shrinkflation."

Cookie Monster's comments came a day before Biden announced a strike force to combat illegal and unfair pricing.

"President Biden is committed to making sure corporations are held accountable when they try to rip off Americans, including when they break the law while keeping prices high," according to a White House news release.

The strike force, which the DOJ and FTC will co-chair, will "strengthen interagency efforts to root out and stop illegal corporate behavior that hikes prices on American families through anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices," the White House's release said.

Are cookies becoming more expensive?

Daniel Zhao, lead economist and senior manager on Glassdoor's economic research team, responded to Cookie Monster with some good news.

In a post on X, Zhao said, "Cookie Monster may be upset given cookie inflation spiked in '22, peaking at +19% (year-over-year) in Nov '22."

Zhao then offered a somewhat positive outlook by saying, "Cookie inflation is down to a placid +0.5% (year-over-year) as of Jan 2024, but prices are still up +28% vs pre-Covid."

While cookie prices are trending down, even Girl Scout Cookies have increased this year.

“While prices have remained steady in many areas for years, some councils have made the tough decision to shift prices,” the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. said in an emailed statement to the New York Times.

Meridith Maskara, the chief executive of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, told the outlet it's been "six years since we've done a cookie price increase."