Yes, Even Cookie Monster Is Upset About ‘Shrinkflation’
Muppet’s rant against cookie prices sparks political reaction, White House response
3 min
Cookie Monster is a blue furry muppet who lives on a fake street, but even he is sick of a real menace in supermarket aisles.
“Me hate shrinkflation!,” the “Sesame Street” character wrote to his 626,000 followers on X. “Me cookies are getting smaller.”
Shrinkflation—when companies shrink their products but not the price—has been a hot topic as Americans spend more of their disposable income on food than they have in 30 years . Shrinkflation saves companies money, but politicians have called it greed. It’s been showing up everywhere: fewer sheets of toilet paper in a roll; less juice in a bottle; or in Cookie Monster’s case, smaller cookies that cost the same as when they were bigger.
President Biden has been critical of shrinkflation lately, calling it “a rip-off” by companies who he said are giving Americans less for every dollar they spend.
“As an ice-cream lover,” Biden said in an Instagram video posted last month on the same day as the Super Bowl, “what makes me the most angry is that ice-cream cartons have actually shrunk in size but not in price.”
On Monday, the White House weighed in on Cookie Monster’s post.
“C is for consumers getting ripped off,” the White House posted on X . “President Biden is calling on companies to put a stop to shrinkflation.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) told Cookie Monster she and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) “have a bill for that.”
Called the Shrinkflation Prevention Act, the bill was introduced by the Democratic senators last week. It would give the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general the authority to punish companies engaging in shrinkflation.
Snacks such as chips and cookies have become 26% more expensive since January 2019, according to a report by Casey released in December . Nearly 10% of the price increase was due to shrinkflation, the report said.
Oreo fans have noticed less cream in the black-and-white cookies, but the company behind them has said there hasn’t been a change to the cookie-to-cream ratio. French supermarket chain Carrefour started attaching labels to products in September warning shoppers of what it deems to be shrinkflation. And even the rich and famous have noticed: Rapper Cardi B has ranted about high inflation and rising lettuce prices . “Naaaaaa,” she tweeted last year, “grocery shopping prices are ridiculous right now.”
David Chavern , the chief executive of the Consumer Brands Association, which represents major food makers, said industry leaders understand the pressures of inflation on Americans and have asked to meet with Biden.
“This is a serious issue and needs responsible leadership, not gimmicks or muppet memes,” he said. “In the meantime, we will continue our efforts to provide the best products at the most competitive price.”
“Sesame Street” characters have been diving into real world issues on social media, gaining differing reactions from politicians.
When the Covid-19 vaccine was approved for children, Big Bird tweeted he got the shot.
“My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy,” he wrote .
Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz tweeted that it was , “Government propaganda…for your 5 year old!”
In January, Elmo asked a question on X : “How is everybody doing?,” only to get inundated with replies from people talking about their mental health and saying how bleak their lives are, garnering a tweet from Biden.
“I know how hard it is some days to sweep the clouds away and get to sunnier days,” Biden responded to the red muppet . “Our friend Elmo is right: We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbour in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it.”
Representatives for “Sesame Street” didn’t respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
As for Cookie Monster’s shrinkflation rant, Edgar Dworsky is happy to have more allies.
“I’ve been campaigning against shrinkflation for more than three decades,” said Dworsky, who calls out companies engaging in shrinkflation on his websites ConsumerWorld.org and MousePrint.org. “I welcome the help of such prominent figures as Cookie Monster and of course, the president.”
In the meantime, Cookie Monster seems to have found his own shrinkflation solution.
“Guess me going to have to eat double da cookies!,” he tweeted .
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Technology and semiconductor shares fell sharply as investors questioned the debt financing the AI infrastructure boom and confronted higher rates and Chinese competition.
Technology and semiconductor shares fell sharply as investors questioned the debt financing the AI infrastructure boom and confronted higher rates and Chinese competition.
4 minA sharp technology sell-off has exposed a new anxiety on global markets: whether the enormous borrowing behind the artificial-intelligence infrastructure boom can generate sufficient returns as interest rates rise and Chinese competition intensifies.
The artificial-intelligence investment boom has powered technology shares, semiconductor manufacturers and data-centre operators to extraordinary heights. Last week, investors were given a reminder that much of this expansion is being built with borrowed money.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 4.5 per cent over the week ended October 16, its weakest performance since late June. Semiconductor shares suffered an even deeper correction, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index losing about 11.4 per cent.
The selling spread quickly through global markets. Micron Technology fell 14.6 per cent over the week, while South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix dropped approximately 18 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
This was more than a routine bout of profit-taking. Investors were reassessing three interconnected risks: higher interest rates, the rapidly expanding debt burden attached to AI infrastructure and the prospect of stronger competition from Chinese memory-chip manufacturers.
The debt behind the AI build-out
Artificial intelligence requires a physical infrastructure network of enormous scale. Data centres must be built, advanced processors purchased, power supplies secured and cooling systems installed before customers begin generating meaningful revenue from them.
Technology companies are increasingly supplementing their own cash with corporate bonds, syndicated loans, equipment leases, private credit and project-level financing.
JPMorgan describes the emerging funding model as a combination of conventional corporate borrowing and project finance tied to individual data-centre assets. In Australia, the Reserve Bank estimates that syndicated loans accounted for approximately three-quarters of data-centre financing during 2025 and 2026 to date.
The numbers are becoming large enough to affect broader credit markets. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has cited Wall Street estimates suggesting AI-related investment-grade bond issuance could approach US$300 billion in 2026 alone.
That borrowing is not automatically problematic. Debt can be an efficient way to finance long-lived infrastructure when future revenue is sufficiently predictable. The concern is that AI technology, customer demand and computing economics are changing much faster than the repayment schedules attached to the assets.
A data centre financed today may carry debt for years. Investors must therefore make assumptions about future utilisation rates, electricity prices, chip performance, customer concentration and the amount businesses will ultimately pay for AI computing.
When interest rates rise, those assumptions become less forgiving.
Inflation changes the calculation
September’s US inflation data intensified the pressure. Consumer prices increased 3.7 per cent over the year, ahead of market expectations and up from 3.4 per cent in August.
The hotter reading reduced confidence that interest rates would fall quickly and pushed bond yields higher. That matters particularly for companies whose valuations depend on profits expected well into the future, as well as highly leveraged infrastructure operators that may need to refinance.
CoreWeave has emerged as a closely watched test case. The specialist cloud-computing company has accumulated substantial debt and lease obligations to build AI capacity, while relying on a concentrated group of large technology customers.
Its shares fell sharply during the sell-off, while the cost of insuring its debt against default climbed. CoreWeave has argued that its contracted backlog more than covers its obligations and that financial markets do not always understand its business model. Nevertheless, its securities have become a proxy for investor confidence in debt-funded AI infrastructure.
Oracle, another major investor in AI computing capacity, fell 8.8 per cent in Friday trading, while CoreWeave dropped 15.5 per cent.
The question is shifting from how much AI infrastructure can be built to how profitably it can be operated.
China adds another source of pressure
Interest rates were not the only catalyst. Reports of advances by Chinese memory-chip producer ChangXin Memory Technologies raised concerns that lower-cost Chinese products could increase competition across the global semiconductor industry.
Memory chips are essential to AI systems, but the industry is historically cyclical. Periods of tight supply and high pricing can encourage rapid investment, eventually producing oversupply and falling margins.
The prospect of a well-funded Chinese competitor expanding its technological capabilities unsettled investors in Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron. It also demonstrated that AI-related demand does not insulate chipmakers from conventional competitive pressures.
That combination—slower rate cuts, more expensive financing and potentially cheaper supply—challenged the assumption that every company exposed to AI would enjoy continually expanding margins.
A reset rather than the end of the boom
The sell-off does not establish that the AI boom is ending. Demand for computing power remains strong, the largest technology companies continue to generate formidable cash flows and many infrastructure projects are backed by long-term customer contracts.
What has changed is the market’s willingness to overlook the price and financing structure of that growth.
The most resilient companies are likely to be those able to fund investment from operating cash flow, secure long-duration customers and demonstrate that new capacity will earn returns comfortably above its financing costs.
More speculative operators may face greater scrutiny, particularly where debt is expensive, customers are concentrated or expected revenue depends on demand that has not yet materialised.
For Australian investors, the lesson extends beyond US technology shares. Local data-centre operators, infrastructure funds, electricity suppliers and property groups are increasingly exposed to the same investment cycle.
Artificial intelligence may remain one of the defining growth themes of the decade. But last week’s correction showed that enthusiasm for the technology does not eliminate financial discipline.
The next stage of the AI boom will be judged not only by computing power, model performance or demand for chips, but by something more traditional: whether the assets being financed can generate enough cash to repay the money borrowed to build them.
Fact box
Nasdaq Composite: Down 4.5 per cent for the week ended October 16, 2026
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index: Down approximately 11.4 per cent
Micron Technology: Down approximately 14.6 per cent
Samsung Electronics: Down approximately 18 per cent
SK Hynix: Down approximately 24 per cent
US September inflation: 3.7 per cent annually
Estimated 2026 AI-related investment-grade issuance: Approximately US$300 billion
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