NYT's Mara Gay: I Know People Who Miss Having A Steak; "I Have The Privilege Of Not Looking At The Sticker Price"
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/09/25/nyts_mara_gay_i_know_people_who_miss_having_a_steak_i_have_the_privilege_of_not_looking_at_the_sticker_price.html

"The New York Times" editorial board member Mara Gay said on Friday's broadcast of "Morning Joe" on MS NOW that her ability to ignore grocery prices is a "privilege" many Americans don't have.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: I don't know what you have to talk that way, but that's how they talk. And now it's just so much worse. It's exponentially worse. Fuel prices are so high. I mean, my God, diesel, and I'm sure you heard this where you were. Oh, my gosh.

People, you know, that live and socialize in places where Richard Haass lives and socializes and cheers for the New York Giants and hangs out with the rich and famous don't understand the impact of high diesel prices in a lot of these swing states.

MARA GAY, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah, although I will tell you a lot of voters, not just in Texas, across the country I've been speaking to are talking about food, which I think given how high the gas prices are, and yes, they're talking about gas prices too, but that tells you the level of suffering that is going on in this country right now, that people are, I have people, their eyes get big, they talk about the last time they had a steak, and it was a while ago, and they're talking to me about how they miss it and how they're trying to make decisions between medicine, rent, gas, and food. I mean, that's actually the situation. Some of us go and we experience sticker shock.

You know, I bought an organic peanut butter jar. It was $25 when I got home. I didn't realize it, but I have the privilege of not having to look at the sticker price and then being mad later.

Some people actually are making extremely painful decisions about their family, what they can feed their children, they're skipping meals so that their kids aren't skipping meals. It's putting people over the edge. It actually makes me very angry because you see, you know that there is wealth in this country. Yeah. And it is, you know, the American people in some way are being starved of a middle class life.