Messages like below are coming out from Republican legislators all over the country. Each one focuses on the problem of inflation, blames Biden, and provides no SPECIFICS as to what Biden did to “cause” inflation.
The reason why they dodge the true cause of the issue? Underlying a large portion of today’s inflation are corporations who are seeing record profits and yet continue to raise their prices. The Republican Party, the same one who gave those corporations massive tax cuts that never found their way to the employees, can’t POSSIBLY shine the light on the greed exhibited by CEOs & board members.
Below is a great writeup from Lindsay Alexandra Owens, PhD.
“As a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, Lindsay works on writing and research focused on economic inequality, recessions, and the housing market.
Lindsay has worked in academia, government, and the nonprofit sector for nearly 15 years. She is currently the interim Executive Director of the Groundwork Collaborative, and has previously served as a senior economic policy advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren and as Deputy Chief of Staff and legislative director to former Rep. Keith Ellison and Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).
As you read today’s inflation report, pay close attention to what the CEOs who set prices are saying. We got our hands on the latest batch of earnings reports, and it’s a doozy. They’re literally bragging about hiking prices while hiding behind “inflation.” The receipts…
CEOs often speak more candidly on earnings calls (held when a new report comes out), in an effort to impress investors, by bragging about their ruthless profit-rigging schemes. It apparently doesn’t occur to them that the public might find out about them! For instance:
The company 3M, which produces N95 masks (and other things) crowed on its earnings call that “the team has done a marvelous job in driving price. Price has gone up from 0.1% to 1.4% to 2.6%.” The CFO told investors, “We see that to be a tailwind.”
Click image to read the article
Tyson, one of the big 4 meat monopolies Biden is targeting for price-fixing saw profits nearly DOUBLE after price hikes of 32% on beef and 20% on chicken which the CEO attributed to the “continued resilience of our multi-protein portfolio.”
In its 4th quarter report, Johnson & Johnson revealed it raised prices…despite raking in billions from COVID vaccine sales. Its CEO told investors that the need for medical care & to “address suffering and death” is part of J&J’s “optimism” & “opportunity” for its future.
Kimberly Clark is a mega-corporation manufacturing everything from paper towels to diapers. On its recent earnings call, CEO Mike Hsu crowed to investors about “multiple rounds” of “significant pricing actions” & admitted he plans to continue doing it throughout the year.
If you want to understand the role of corporate greed in price hikes & inflation in America today, you don’t have to take the word of watchdogs or critics of corporations. CEO’s are admitting it themselves in plain daylight.
And they’re betting they can get away with it.
Another example: Why are gas prices still so high?
Here’s some more FACTS:
Finally, a recent report showed that
Just 13 non-financial companies in the S&P 500… are sitting on cash and investments of more than a $1 trillion,
Investor’s Business Daily
So again, why the constant price increases when they are sitting on all of that cash? And that’s just 13 companies – can you imagine the rest of them?
