#Inflation soared under President #Biden in 2021 & 2022, as the #economy emerged from the #pandemic recession [that began under Trump]. Its causes were complex, including snarled #SupplyChains, stimulative policies by the #FederalReserve &, to a degree, federal fiscal policies incl’ing #Covid relief bills signed by #Trump &…Biden.
What #Republicans call “Bidenflation” has become one of the president’s biggest liabilities in his rematch w/ #Trump. In response, #Biden has sought to simultaneously cheer #progress in #stabilizing or bringing down #prices — #growth has slowed sharply from a yr ago — while acknowledging the pain #voters still feel in their pocketbooks.
Biden has also attacked #corporations for pricing practices in certain sectors such as meatpacking, snack foods, concert tickets & gasoline.
#Biden has worked to limit prices for #PrescriptionDrugs like insulin & inhalers, rein in #bank#overdraft & #creditcard fees & make airline #travel cheaper & more transparent, achievements that he often discusses on the campaign trail.
“We’re taking on #corporate#greed to bring down the #price of gas, food & rent, eliminating junk fees,” #POTUS told a crowd of cheering supporters in Philadelphia last week.
Dollar Tree and its subsidiary Family Dollar are closing 1,000 stores.
According to Dollar Tree CEO Rick Dreiling, who makes 951 times the $14,702 median pay of his employees, “Persistent inflation and reduced government benefits continue to pressure the lower-income consumers that comprise a sizable portion of Family Dollar’s customer base."
Corporate profits account for about 53% of greedflation.
Dollar Tree employees are among the top recipients of government safety net programs, such as Medicaid and food stamps (SNAP) benefits.
Maybe, just maybe, if predatory corporate chain stores like Dollar Tree would pay their employees a living wage, they could generate profit the good old fashioned way, by selling retail goods to customers that need or want them. Just a thought.
Just in time for #Davos, here's 'Taken, not earned: How monopolists drive the world’s power and wealth divide," a report from a coalition of international tax justice and anti-corporate activist groups:
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
Consider a good that costs $10 to make: the bottom 50% of companies (by size) would charge $12.50 for that product on average. The largest companies would charge $15. Thus monopolies don't just make their owners richer - they make everyone else poorer, too.
This power to set prices is behind the #greedflation (or, more politely, #SellersInflation). The CEOs of the largest companies in the world keep getting on investor calls and bragging about this: