As the Market Soars, Main Street Feels the Pinch: Dollar Tree and the Rising Cost of Survival

While Wall Street celebrates record highs, Main Street grapples with rising costs that strain household budgets. Dollar Tree, once synonymous with affordability, has seen its pricing structure evolve significantly. In 2021, the company increased its baseline price from $1 to $1.25, and by 2025, introduced items priced up to $10 in select stores.

For residents in food deserts—areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food—stores like Dollar Tree serve as essential sources for groceries. However, these stores often stock predominantly ultra-processed foods, contributing to dietary challenges. A study by Tufts, Harvard, and the USDA found that while dollar store food purchases scored low on the Healthy Eating Index, households shopping there didn’t significantly differ in overall diet quality from those shopping primarily at grocery stores.

The expansion of dollar stores in low-income communities has been linked to exacerbating food insecurity. These stores often lack fresh produce and healthy staples, leading to diets high in processed foods. Research indicates that small food retailers are less likely than supermarkets to sell healthy staple foods, further entrenching food insecurity in these areas.

Despite the financial gains reflected in the stock market, the affordability gap widens for working-class families. Economic gains at the top do not trickle down to the communities that need them most. As investment portfolios swell, the affordability gap grows, and the promise of basic necessities remains increasingly out of reach. For working-class families and those living in under-resourced neighborhoods, the soaring market feels less like a sign of prosperity and more like a reminder of growing inequality.

In addition to rising costs, recent changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are further impacting low-income households. A new law backed by the Trump administration and signed in July 2025 is set to reduce SNAP benefits for 2.4 million Americans by expanding work requirements to additional groups, including parents of children aged 14 and up, adults aged 55–64, veterans, former foster youth, and homeless individuals. The legislation requires these groups to work, volunteer, or participate in job training for at least 80 hours per month to qualify. This expansion is expected to shift more costs to states and redistribute resources, increasing income for middle- and high-income households while reducing benefits for low-income households.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) notes that people in food-insecure households spend roughly 45% more on medical care annually than those in food-secure households. SNAP participation has been linked to improved health outcomes and reduced healthcare costs. For instance, early access to SNAP among pregnant mothers and in early childhood improved birth outcomes and long-term health as adults. Elderly SNAP participants are less likely than similar non-participants to forgo their full prescribed dosage of medicine due to cost.

The reduction or loss of SNAP benefits can lead to increased food insecurity and poorer health outcomes. A study published in Health Affairs found that the loss of SNAP benefits was associated with food insecurity and poor health in working families with young children. The study indicated that reduced benefits were associated with greater odds of fair or poor caregiver and child health.

As the affordability gap widens and access to essential resources becomes more challenging, the combination of rising costs and reduced support systems underscores the growing inequality faced by working-class families and communities in need.

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Sources:

• Money Digest: Dollar Tree Chain Increasing Prices

• New York Post: Dollar Tree lifts price cap to $7

• Eating Well: Dollar Store Grocery Shopping Study

• Planet Forward: Dollar Stores and Food Security

• USDA Economic Research Service: Food Access Research Atlas

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index 2024 in Review

• DQYDJ: Average, Median, Top 1% Household Income Percentiles

• U.S. Census Bureau: Income in the United States: 2023

• The Guardian: Trump Law Will Cut Food Stamps for 2.4 Million People

• CBPP: SNAP Is Linked With Improved Health Outcomes and Lower Health Care Costs

• Health Affairs: Loss Of SNAP Is Associated With Food Insecurity And Poor Health In Working Families With Young Children

The Business Plots, Then and Now

In 1933, a group of American businessman planned a coup to take down the new President, Franklin Roosevelt. In this scheme, General Smedley Butler would be tasked with orchestrating the overthrow. This attempted coup was called the Business Plot.  

College students today may ask, so what's so important about this moment in history?  The point is that we have entered an era again where big business has a dominating influence over American politics. In the case of the 1933 moment, the coup was reactive. American business had failed, a Great Depression was in progress, and businessmen were fighting to maintain control, a control that they were used to having under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. The man tasked to lead the plot, General Butler, squashed it before it happened. And the story largely faded away. 

Eight years later, in 1941, the US would be fighting a world war against global fascism and imperialism.  In the aftermath of the war, a stronger nation would arise. Today, we are also a nation facing intense competition and conflict, this time against China, Russia, India and other nations, with global climate change being a factor that wasn't apparent back then. 

In 2024, US business people, some of the richest people in the world, did something similar, but more proactive and less controversial. Today, folks, in general are OK with American businessmen pulling the strings. The most wealthy man have succeeded where big banks and big business failed before. And they have elected a friend. Today, cryptocurrency is booming. The stock market is booming for now. Unemployment is at record lows--for now. Big business has managed to gain greater control of the US government with little or no uproar. 

 

The Roaring 2020s and America's Move to the Right

In December 2024, the Roaring 2020s are already here. The stock market is near an all-time high and Bitcoin has gained enormous value, waiting for Donald J. Trump to become President again, to make America Great Again. 

In 2025 US citizens should expect markets to continue growing, and the costly war in the Ukraine to be settled. Deregulation, interest rate cuts, and tax cuts, which provide economic stimulus, will be at the heart of the new Trump Administration, good enough to pump up the economy for years. Threats to raise tariffs on China and other nations (which are costly to consumers) may only be threats.  

Mr. Trump promises a new Golden Age. And many of those who are clever enough and ambitious enough should expect to get rich. But those who do not agree with President Trump may face increased scrutiny, harkening back to a century ago.  

Let's see how long this new era lasts, how it is remembered by different people, and how it is retold in history books. 

The Roaring 2020's: For-Profit Education and Incarceration Profit from Trump Win

American investors are betting heavily on for-profit online education and mass incarceration. Shares of LRN (Stride), a company that operates cyber charter schools, have increased in value by about 60 percent over the last 30 days, reaching an all-time high today.  Stride has a number of institutional investors, including state employee and teacher retirement funds.  

Shares of GEO Group (GEO), an owner and operator of private prisons, have increased more than 90 percent over the last month. It also has a large number of big investors, including BlackRock, Vanguard, and Goldman Sachs.