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Saying profifs are causing inflation is the biggest gas lighting I've ever heard from the biden administration
When goods are short, we might expect profit margins to rise as the market rewards people who supply goods. If they aren't making extra profit, then there is no incentive to produce more goods. A fairer interpretation of the situation is there is a lot of money chasing less goods. That results in, simultaneously, high inflation and reduced living standards. High profit margins aren't causing inflation - there have to…
It would be more accurate to state that consumer demand (as there is a bunch of excess savings sloshing around from Covid) is driving up market-clearing prices. Profit margins don't increase prices.
... you're going to have to run that past me again. If my cost of producing a gubbin is X, and I sell it for X + 5% margin, then start selling it for X + 15% margin, then the price will increase. Seems straightforward, what am I missing?
Why weren't you selling at X+15 yesterday, and why aren't you selling it at X+50 today? Did you just wake up this morning feeling greedier than usual (but not too greedy), or could it be that there is some external constraint on your ability to set prices, and that constraint has changed?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/subcommittee... >Below are key findings from the staff analysis: > ... >Certain corporations are using the cover of inflation to raise prices excessively, resulting in record profits and profit margins. Is this a bad thing? The paragraph later goes list examples which were shipping, rental car, meat processing, and oil and gas. All of them experienced some supply/dema…
Yes best to have full shelves of stuff that’s too expensive to buy
When goods are short, we might expect profit margins to rise as the market rewards people who supply goods. If they aren't making extra profit, then there is no incentive to produce more goods. A fairer interpretation of the situation is there is a lot of money chasing less goods. That results in, simultaneously, high inflation and reduced living standards. High profit margins aren't causing inflation - there have to…
This doesn't seem to hold for wages, which aren't rising at the same rate as inflation, despite a lot of talk of worker shortage.
I’m seeing this narrative pushed a lot by politicians who would like to shift the blame to anyone other than themselves.
Well, when the truth is “blame consumers for consuming a record amount of stuff with no price sensitivity after being forced indoors for two years, where they learned life is meant to be lived,” I can see why they don’t want to take the fall for that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Talk doesn’t raise the price of anything.
Are you saying the claims of worker shortages are nothing but lies?
Companies can complain about a worker shortage all they want; if they want to fix it, they need to realize they have a salary shortage.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes best to have full shelves of stuff that’s too expensive to buy
Yes, that's objectively better. At least you have a choice to buy less frequently, or in smaller quantities. I was raised during the communism, where you did have a lot of cash, and the goods were cheap (because government was deciding both salaries and prices), but they were simply never in stock. It took a lot of time, effort and sometimes actual bribes to buy anything. That's what you get when you try to artificia…
Very different early education can make a huge difference. But when you start out decades ago with a bunch of inept adults making an angry mess of their country, you get as you describe.
Stop living in your memory as if it’s physical law and not the result of shit leadership.
No no no, it absolutely must be reckless shoppers spending so much money on necessities. They should be ashamed of themselves for buying food, toilet paper, and baby formula. Corporations are always innocent conveyors of value. sigh
We are seeing record consumption of luxury goods like iPhones, GPUs and TVs. The population largely still has too much money going after not enough product.