I'm surprised there's not an inflation thread yet
POSTED BY: 6IXSTRINGJACK
UPDATED: Thursday, June 11, 2026 17:04
VIEWED: 37356
PAGE 58 of 84
Public pessimism on the economy hits a new high, CNBC survey shows
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/18/public-pessimism-on-the-economy-hits-a
-new-high-cnbc-survey-shows.html
More US consumers are falling behind on payments
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/more-us-consumers-are-falling-behin
d-payments-2023-04-18/
Biden* and Democrats are done.
Biden* and Democrats just haven't figured it out yet.
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Greed-flation has gone too far
For over a year now, consumers and businesses, both in the U.S. and worldwide, have struggled with stubborn inflation. But the soaring costs haven’t prevented corporations from raking in record profits. The companies in last year’s Fortune 500 alone generated an all-time high $1.8 trillion in profit on $16.1 trillion in revenue.
Voices largely on the left side of the political spectrum have been sounding the alarm on this, but now an economist at one of the world’s oldest and greatest investment banks is singing the same tune.
Albert Edwards, a global strategist at the 159-year-old bank Société Générale, just released a blistering note on the phenomenon that has come to be called Greedflation. Corporations, particularly in developed economies like the U.S. and U.K., have used rising raw material costs amid the pandemic and the war in Ukraine as an “excuse” to raise prices and expand profit margins to new heights, he said. And the French investment bank isn’t just historic: It’s one of the select banks considered to be “systemically important” by the Financial Stability Board, the G20’s international body dedicated to safeguarding the global financial system.
Furthermore, Edwards wrote, in the Tuesday edition of his Global Strategy Weekly, after four decades of working in finance, he’s never seen anything like the “unprecedented” and “astonishing” levels of corporate Greedflation in this economic cycle. To his point, a January study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City found that “markup growth”—the increase in the ratio between the price a firm charges and its cost of production—was a far more important factor driving inflation in 2021 than it has been throughout economic history.
Edwards added that he fears the “super-normal profit margins” of corporations in the U.S. and abroad could eventually “inflame social unrest” if consumers continue to struggle with inflation.
“The end of Greedflation must surely come. Otherwise, we may be looking at the end of capitalism,” he warned. “This is a big issue for policymakers that simply cannot be ignored any longer.”
Edwards’s note could be significant in bringing a viewpoint that has thus far lived on the progressive fringe into the mainstream. For instance, a debate over Greedflation broke out last month, during former Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s interview with Larry Summers on his new Apple TV show, The Problem. As Stewart and Summers debated whether the Fed was right to pressure wages to fall by raising interest rates in its inflation fight, Stewart pivoted: “Why aren’t we attacking corporate profit in any way? Because that’s been estimated to be 30% of inflation, 40% of inflation?”
Summers was quick to respond that he didn’t think it was “a tenable view that all of a sudden corporations became greedy.” Edwards seems to be saying that it actually is quite tenable.
The strategist referenced a paper by University of Massachusetts Amherst economists Isabella Weber and Evan Wasner, titled, “Sellers’ Inflation, Profits and Conflict: Why Can Large Firms Hike Prices in an Emergency?” which found that corporations engaged in “price gouging” during the pandemic and argued temporary price controls may be the only way to prevent the “inflationary spirals” that could come as a result of this gouging.
“Looking at their conclusions on how to deal with Greedflation, price controls seem to emerge as a favorite method of control,” Edwards argued.
More at https://web.archive.org/web/20230413003633/https://fortune.com/2023/04
/05/end-of-capitalism-inflation-greedflation-societe-generale-corporate-profits/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
'Twould be a nobler goal than trying to get a high BlackRock ESG score.
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
PCE inflation drops sharply in March
https://jabberwocking.com/pce-inflation-drops-sharply-in-march/
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=12W6o
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
So? Who gives a shit?
Unless prices decline sharply, Biden* fucked the economy so hard already that 80% of the country is fucked and can't even come up with $400 for an emergency.
You did this. You voted for this.
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Why do you refuse to understand that companies have always set their own prices? The President does not set prices. I'm guessing that you reinterpreted "companies set their own prices" to mean "companies can do whatever pleases". But companies can't do as they please because there actually are foggy and soft limits that companies recognize on how high they can raise prices (and those limits are set by how much money the customers have and how gullible are those customers) but those limits are not set by the President.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So? Who gives a shit?
Unless prices decline sharply, Biden* fucked the economy so hard already that 80% of the country is fucked and can't even come up with $400 for an emergency.
You did this. You voted for this.
The US has seen something like what Lael Brainard, the former second-in-command at the Fed and now the Biden administration’s chief economist, calls a “price-price spiral,” in which some firms raise prices more than their costs go up.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/brainard20230119a.htm
At least some of this may have involved firms believing that they could get away with exceptional price hikes because customers wouldn’t notice in a time of widespread price hikes. (There’s a lot about this in this paywalled Bloomberg discussion.)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/transcript-companie
s-are-telling-us-the-real-reason-they-re-still-raising-prices
Companies Are Telling Us the Real Reason They're Still Raising Prices
Tracy Alloway, Joe Weisenthal
March 9, 2023 at 8:23 AM CST
The persistence of inflation is a bit of a mystery to economists. Many of the shocks of the last few years have faded. And the Fed has raised rates aggressively, with seemingly only a modest impact. So why are companies still raising prices? If you listen, they actually explain a lot of their reasoning on corporate conference calls. On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Samuel Rines, managing director at Corbu, who has gone through numerous transcripts and come to the conclusion that management teams are still being rewarded for "price over volume" strategies. Companies in this environment are happy to sacrifice a bit of volume sales in order to keep moving through large price increases. He walks us through what he's learned from companies like Wingstop, Tractor Supply, and PepsiCo. And he talks about what you should expect to see when the inflationary urge finally starts to crest. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
6ix, every successful businessman knows that if customers still have money in their pocket after a purchase ("80% of the country is fucked and can't even come up with $400 for an emergency") then the businessman did not set his price high enough. He could have charged more if the customer still has $400. By the way, the President has no control over how greedy the businessman can be.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Why do you refuse to understand that companies have always set their own prices? The President does not set prices.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So? Who gives a shit?
Unless prices decline sharply, Biden* fucked the economy so hard already that 80% of the country is fucked and can't even come up with $400 for an emergency.
You did this. You voted for this.
Because you're lying by omitting many inconvenient truths about the failed policies and the failed Democrat politicians and appointments that have plagued this country for over two years now that lead to the inflation.
The Democrat Party is responsible for all of this, and because the US Dollar is tied to Petrol, it is very much responsible for a good amount of inflation worldwide as well.
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:The oil producers set prices, not the President. You and your kind are cheated in business deals because you don't understand that price is a negotiation only between two people. There is not a third person, the President of the United States, involved when you are overcharged in a deal.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Why do you refuse to understand that companies have always set their own prices? The President does not set prices.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So? Who gives a shit?
Unless prices decline sharply, Biden* fucked the economy so hard already that 80% of the country is fucked and can't even come up with $400 for an emergency.
You did this. You voted for this.
Because you're lying by omitting many inconvenient truths about the failed policies and the failed Democrat politicians and appointments that have plagued this country for over two years now that lead to the inflation.
The Democrat Party is responsible for all of this, and because the US Dollar is tied to Petrol, it is very much responsible for a good amount of inflation worldwide as well.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:The oil producers set prices, not the President. You and your kind are cheated in business deals because you don't understand that price is a negotiation only between two people. There is not a third person, the President of the United States, involved when you are overcharged in a deal. I swear you and your kind are stupid fuckers who deserve to be cheated.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Why do you refuse to understand that companies have always set their own prices? The President does not set prices.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So? Who gives a shit?
Unless prices decline sharply, Biden* fucked the economy so hard already that 80% of the country is fucked and can't even come up with $400 for an emergency.
You did this. You voted for this.
Because you're lying by omitting many inconvenient truths about the failed policies and the failed Democrat politicians and appointments that have plagued this country for over two years now that lead to the inflation.
The Democrat Party is responsible for all of this, and because the US Dollar is tied to Petrol, it is very much responsible for a good amount of inflation worldwide as well.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
You are too stupid to have this conversation with. I'm not going to have it with you again.
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:I swear you and your kind are stupid fuckers who deserve to be cheated by businessmen doing what is most profitable for themselves. Businesses are NOT run to benefit customers or employees. It is absolutely ridiculous that customers and employees keep misunderstanding this simple truth.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
You are too stupid to have this conversation with. I'm not going to have it with you again.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME