‘Greedflation,’ Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy

[generalsternwood]

In Ec10, I learned that inflation results from “too much buying,” and I’ve spent the decades since learning that Ec10 was an exercise in obfuscating the guiding role of corporate power in the marketplace. Apologies to my very earnest TA, but, in fairness, she didn’t realize she was part of a cult.

Strengthening anti-trust law would be a good start to address this issue, but in the long run you need to adjust capitalism by strictly regulating corporate behavior and executive compensation, especially for extractive industries, and forcing all businesses to shoulder the social and environmental costs that they incur.

[cub_calloway]

@Scoutmom

Everything in one neat package.

The Fifty-third Calypso of Bokonon

Oh, a sleeping drunkard
up in Central Park,
And a lion-hunter
In the jungle dark,
And a Chinese dentist,
And a British queen--
All fit together
In the same machine.
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice--
So many different people
In the same device.

[generalsternwood]

Holoween

When we generate three-dimensional images of candy that costumed children strive and fail to put in their bags, teaching them an important lesson about the savage nature of the world.

[DuckmanGR]

Capitalism isn’t perfect.
But it’s better than all the others.

Except it isn’t. Since all the costs are not calculated into the COG sold, we get things like climate change and how much it costs to recover from unprecedented wildfires or rising ocean levels. But sure, razor blades have to be locked up at the stores, and where the demand came for 5,6,8 blades, well, I don’t think it’s from the consumer, and since capitalism controls the media and thus a big part of demand, you get what they want you to get.

Inflation? No, greed. One day, and it’s coming sooner than you think, there will be consequences felt. The maga fools are just a symptom manipulated by Trump and his handlers. The next one will be more competently led.

[tindalos]

Labor’s share of the national income has been declining since the 1960’s while capital’s share has gone up but the divergence took a sharper turn in the 1980’s. Lots of reasons are given but the timing and policy shifts involved are none-the-less suggestive.

“There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming situation.” – Frederic Bastiat

[darcy]

I feel your outrage and I’m not talking “getting screwed.” There’s no “free markets” or “rational market.” And it is a “smash and grab, good times and bad” reality. But these are systemic issues rarely discussed. Corporate America (Media included) will not allow a real/informed conversation about itself. Giants like P&G, the biggest consumer goods company in the world with hundreds of brands, brands that generate at least a billion in sales annually generate generate record profits every quarter. Before the GR if a company produced record profits annually it was a BFD. They all hide behind “Inflation.”, NOT OUR FAULT. And even the Democratic Party will cower and say, you know, they have a point there. Meanwhile, Republicans will shrug their shoulders and say, what’s wrong with making a profit? We are so up against it. Greed rules.

[DuckmanGR]

Exactly. Without including those costs you get ignorant capitalism which can, and has, turned malignant.

[ronbyers]

What you are talking about is what happens when there is a concentration of power in the hands of a few corporations. For the markets to really work well there has to be a relatively large number of producers.

[musgrove]

@Scoutmom

Why are profit margins rising more than wages? Because people at companies who decide what things cost are ensuring that is the case.

Everything in one neat package.

Well they get big bonuses from keeping wages down.

[paulw]

@jientho

It boils down to “market power”, who has it and who doesn’t.

This. And oligopolies/monopolies have crippled the idea of substitution, which used to be one of consumers’ biggest tools against profiteering. Company A raises prices, so you buy from Company B instead – except now A and B are both owned by the same set of global oligarchs, so they raise their prices in concert. (And if Company C comes in with a cheaper product, all they have to do is price it a hair under what’s being charged by A and B.)

So yeah, in a sense it is too much money chasing too few goods, but when companies can make more money by selling less, that explanation stops being a “natural law” and turns into market manipulation.

[osprey]

A lot of this is the inevitable result of killing off unions. Individual workers have next to no leverage so all the power devolves to the employers. Why wouldn’t they take advantage if that to line their own pockets? This has been going on since Reagan busted the air controllers union in the 80’s. The post-pandemic price gouging is just the end result of decades of laissez-faire economics on the part of both parties with a big boost from our very own oligarchs.

[tao]

The GOP has become a rotting corpse, politically, infested with maggots & defended by wealthy vultures. It has only one true principle, greed, & is determined to reinvent America in greed’s image

Thom Hartmann, June 2022/

[fgs]

It’s not a conspiracy, it’s millions of people figuring out the obvious, at the same time. They can charge more without their customers saying, chuck you, Farley because everyone else is, too.

[tigersharktoo]

This is rarely mentioned, but just perhaps massive taxes cuts to business and the 1% are inflationary. Those cuts pump more dollars into the system, looking for new ROI. More dollars chasing fewer goods.

[egyptsteve]

One more reason to soak the rich. Not that we need one.

[lastroth]

@darcy

Giants like P&G, the biggest consumer goods company in the world with hundreds of brands, brands that generate at least a billion in sales annually generate generate record profits every quarter.

My question to this aspect is how many companies are producing what we the consumer are buying? How many of the brands that P&G are sell originated from P&G? Versus how many brands were acquired when P&G bought out a rival?
We haven’t reached ACME CORP yet, but are we headed there?

[isakindamagic]

There is a case to say, and it’s off the cuff in LA morning with a joint - maybe these guys are at the forefront…

Rural areas didn’t make a comeback since the Great Depression. Towns 10k-20k need industries in Middle America because there is almost no tourism. There is a burden and a hopelessness in the Midwest now that has ossified into a hard prejudice against the Left, but only because the same people that took the jobs away are harvesting them for votes.

If the cities were suffering like the towns are suffering, these guys would be the forefront of a movement not unrelated to Occupy Wall Street.

People suffered, and their rage leaked out because it was existential to them, while we were too far away to care. If we go broke we’ll be standing next to them like we’re kin.

America is vast and bleeding between the streetlights. Something has to give.

[osprey]

Yes. We are extremely close to ACME Corp. There are only a handful of mega-corps in a number of categories - due to their massive size, they can set industry prices, drive competitors out of the market, and dictate what is and is not available wrt to goods and services. Think Lowes and Home Depot, with Ace way in the back. Or AT&T, Comcast, and a few others in telecoms, Sinclair and Fox in TV and radio coverage. And how many oil companies and airlines remain?

The gov’t was asleep at the switch (when it wasn’t actively helping the corps.) for a lot of the consolidation. And they have learned nothing. When the banks melted down in 2008, the answer was to make the biggest bnks even bigger to save the smaller banks. In the latest bank failures, once again, the biggest banks absorbed the failing banks, making the huge banks bigger yet.

[darcy]

We haven’t reached ACME CORP yet, but are we headed there?

Well, Corporate America has to maintain the appearance of competition. Otherwise politicians are forced to react. Kitchen table issues do get their attention. But yes, there will be a new base line (costs) when inflation starts trending down. There’s very little resistance to where they set prices - moving forward. We are at their mercy. Sen Warren’s CFPB was a start. And it has been successful.
And it’s still functioning, which is amazing.

[osprey]

Those rural areas also have to help themselves. When HRC ran for president, she had ideas and plans for how to remake coal-mining country with new jobs and industries. They rejected her plans wholesale. They wanted working mines or nothing - thanks to TDFG, Manchin, and a Repub majority in Congress, they got nothing. That doesn’t mean gov’t has no role to play - it does. But folks have to be ready to make some changes.