Corporate profits now the largest driver of inflation | MF working paper

6 comments

1. Grocery stores in Canada were also blaming inflation for their absurd price hikes. It turned out the food producers had stopped raising their prices a while ago and the stores were raising it themselves out of greed.

2. They were always (read: at least since 2009) the largest driver of inflation. It was just harder to prove because corporations could blame it on other things.

3. There is definitely a lot of speculation going on from these companies.. so far it’s a success, people are still paying so they’re making bank, in the end every company exists to maximize profits… I do think the pandemic had a lot to do with it tho. People saved more in those 2 years as they had less opportunities to spend, so now there is more cash to spend and these companies are taking advantage.

4. I concur. In the UK we just saw headlines that Centrica (British Gas) profits were ten-fold higher this year. Yet central banks blame workers for pushing up wages.

   https://www.ft.com › content › 07175b12-b376-4019-8107-a219428847dc

   “Adjusted operating profits at British Gas surged to £969mn in the first six months of this year, up from £98mn in the first half of 2022.”

   We see the same story across supermarkets and other consumer industries – perhaps not ten-fold but significant rises that cannot be explained by import costs. Energy prices fell significantly yet all energy companies here rose “Standing Charges” (fixed daily service charges) and only dropped unit prices by a tiny fraction.

5. We are loosing the class war, again.

6. I reckon its the same everywhere here in europe? Governments should be able to fuck over food producers heavily for their tomfoolery.