Corporations Are Using the Pandemic as an Excuse to Profiteer -- Permanently

[Nevilledog]

https://eand.co/greedflation-is-wrecking-our-economies-e8d09f6451a4




You’ve probably suspected it — congratulations, you were right. Inflation. The sudden, wallet-busting, heart-pounding rise. As my lovely wife puts it: “When did a sandwich begin costing fifteen dollars?” The cost of everything is skyrocketing. Cars, homes, groceries, gadgets. It’s rising so fast it’s hard to barely keep up.

What’s it really about?

One side says the following. The right wing — and orthodox economists — would have you believe that inflation is the result of “too much” support during the pandemic. Because we gave households aid during easily the worst crisis since the last World War, this side believes that inflation is the direct result. The idea here is simple: when you give people money, inflation is the consequence.

The problem — the other side says — is that there is no real logic or evidence behind this idea. There were plenty of nations who were too poor to give their citizens much Covid aid — and yet inflation’s hit them just as hard, if not harder, too. So it can’t be as simple as “pandemic relief caused inflation!” And just because we give people aid, it doesn’t just magically cause this kind of mega-inflation — that aid plugged a huge hole in the economy, one made of unemployment and lost wages and suddenly plunging incomes. It’s not adding water to a bucket — it’s more like plugging a sudden, catastrophic leak.

So which side is right? See the charts above? They’re really, really important, because they’re the first real evidence we have — of something, like I said, that you probably already suspected.

This isn’t inflation. It’s greedflation. This sudden, heart-stopping rise in prices is in large part an effect of corporations jacking up prices. Why? Because they can. They used the pandemic as an excuse to raise prices disproportionately.

*snip*

[Scrivener7]

1. This is a REALLY, REALLY important OP. Wish I could rec it a hundred times.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

2. "In these uncertain times...

...we are certain that you will pay more to get less."

[global1]

3. The Corps Knew That The American People Received Government Stimulus Funds And....

their 'greed thinking' was - how can I get my hands into the back pockets of the American People. How can we get our hands on all that free government money that the American People now have?

That was one of the contributors to this inflation.

The other greed move on the Corps part was taking advantage of supply issues that were a result of the pandemic and artificially creating product shortages so they could jack up prices and use the short supply as an excuse for raising the price. There was a lot of that going on. Remember there were issues of back up of containers at docks around the country and also lack of trucks and drivers to get product from the docks to the market.

Again - a convenient excuse to jack up prices and make some extra bucks.

It even translated down to the store level. I heard from a friend that their son - and employee at a big box store - was told to not keep the shelves stocked completely. Make it look like we're having supply problems - so we can jack up prices.

Many businesses saw an opportunity to jack up prices and make a few extra bucks.

During the critical pandemic period when people isolated themselves; didn't travel; worked from home; etc - the oil companies took a big financial hit - gas wasn't in demand. Now as we're coming out of the worst of the quarantine and things are starting to get back to normal - the oil companies are using the Russian War as an excuse for jacking gas prices. I suspect the real reason is that the oil companies see a good excuse for taking advantage of the situation and making up for their losses during the worst of the pandemic. Again - greed.

One last reason is that the Repug Party was using this inflation as a way to blame Biden and get his polls to go down.

All of these reasons are contributing factors to the inflationary period we're having now. In the bulk of the excuses for the current inflationary period we're encountering - greed is the basis.

[mitch96]

4. I think it was Churchill who was credited with saying...

“Never let a good crisis go to waste”
Cheney took it to heart also after 9/11..
Or you could just manufacture a crisis as in a false flag operation..
m

[moondust]

5. Cost of living increases

whack discretionary income which likely leads to lifestyle changes with fewer customers who end up spending less. Especially those on a fixed income. Can probably expect more small business closures, reduced travel, etc.