Soaring pasta prices caused a crisis in Italy, what can the U.S. learn from it?

A long-simmering issue finally boiled over last week, when Italy's government convened crisis talks to address the skyrocketing price of pasta. Pasta prices jumped 17.5% in March — more than double Italy's inflation rate —compared to the same month in 2022, despite a drop in wheat prices, Reuters reported. That was followed by a 16.5% year-over-year increase in April. Out of Italy's 110 provinces, people in only 12 of them could buy a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of pasta for less than $2.20, according to an April report from consumer rights group Assoutenti, cited by The Washington Post. It said some cities, like Modena, had seen a nearly 50% increase in pasta prices from last year. Italy's Industry Minister Adolfo Urso chaired a meeting with lawmakers, pasta producers and consumer rights groups in Rome on Thursday. The commission said afterward that pasta prices were "already showing the first, albeit weak, signs of a [decrease], a sign that in the coming months, the cost of pasta will ...