Guest Post by ,
Many Americans are still experiencing the sticker shock they first faced two years ago when inflation hit its peak. But if inflation is down now, why are families still feeling the pinch?
The answer lies in corporate profits — and we have the data to prove it.
Our new report for the Groundwork Collaborative finds that corporate profits accounted for more than half — 53 percent — of inflation from April to September 2023. That’s an astronomical percentage. Corporate profits drove just 11 percent of price growth in the four decades prior to the pandemic.
Businesses have been quick to blame rising costs on supply chain shocks from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. But two years later, our economy has mostly returned to normal. In some cases, companies’ costs to make things and stock shelves have actually decreased.
Let’s demonstrate with one glaring example: diapers.
The hyper-consolidated diaper industry is dominated by just two companies, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark, which own well-known diaper brands like Pampers, Huggies, and Luvs. The cost of wood pulp, a key ingredient for making diapers absorbent, did spike during the pandemic, increasing by more than 50 percent between 2020 and 2021.
But last year it declined by 25 percent. Did that drop in costs lead Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark to lower their prices? Far from it. Diaper prices have increased to nearly $22 on average.
These corporate giants have no plans to bring prices down anytime soon. In fact, their own executives are openly bragging about how they’re going to “expand margins” on earnings calls. Procter & Gamble predicted $800 million in windfall profits as input costs decline. Kimberly-Clark’s CEO said the company has “a lot of opportunity” to expand margins over time.
It’s not just diapers — while many corporations were quick to pass along rising costs, they’ve been in no hurry to pass along their savings. A recent survey from the Richmond Fed and Duke University revealed that 60 percent of companies plan to hike prices this year by more than they did before the pandemic, even though their costs have moderated.
Corporations across industries, from housing to groceries and used cars, are juicing their profit margins even as the cost of doing business goes down. And they’re not hiding the ball. Since the summer of 2021, Groundwork began listening in on hundreds of corporate earnings calls where we heard CEO after CEO boasting about their ability to raise prices on consumers.
Now we hear something slightly different: CEOs crowing about keeping their prices high while their costs go down.
PepsiCo raised its prices on snacks and beverages by roughly 15 percent twice in the last year while bragging to shareholders that their profit margins will grow as input costs come down. Tyson’s earnings report flaunted how their higher prices have “more than offset” their higher costs. The CFO of Hershey said last quarter that pricing gains more than offset inflation and higher costs.
So what can we do about it?
The Biden administration has taken important steps to rein in corporate profiteering and address the longstanding affordability crisis, from eliminating junk fees to strengthening global supply chains and cracking down on corporate concentration.
With the 2017 Trump tax cuts set to expire, Congress should also take this opportunity to raise taxes on corporations. Taxing profits helps disincentivize price gouging and profiteering because large corporations will have to send a greater share of their windfall to Uncle Sam.
We’ve come a long way in bringing inflation down since its peak in 2022. But stamping out inflation once and for all will require a concerted effort to rein in the corporate profiteering.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
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This is a hit piece from Other Words site that is a mouth piece for the liberal left. Why didn’t you mention that?
None too bright, AND a slow reader, but even 👁️ KNEW that SOMETHING was
DEFINITIVELY askance/askew, (NOT sure which is proper?) as soon as i read this:
” The Biden administration has taken important steps to rein in corporate profiteering and…”
MADE me click the authoress’s links.
https://otherwords.org/authors/lindsay-owens/
https://otherwords.org/authors/elizabeth-pancotti/
You know how you can tell they’re smart?
The glasses.
Butterflybaby87 Published 05/12/2008
“Little Johnny was sitting in class doing math problems when his teacher picked him to answer a question.
“Johnny, if there were five birds sitting on a fence and you shot one with your gun, how many would be left ?”
“None.”,replied Johnny. “’cause the rest would fly away.”
“Well, the answer is four,” said the teacher. “But I like the way you are thinking.”
Then Little Johnny said, “I have a question for you now. If there were three women eating ice cream cones in a shop, one licking her cone, the second biting her cone, and the third one sucking her cone, which one is married?”
“Well,” said the teacher nevously, “I guess the one sucking the cone?”
“No,” said Little Johnny, “the one with the wedding ring on her finger. But I like the way you are thinking.”
Kollege , dey haz it.
You know how you can tell they’re smart?
The glasses.
Nah.
That just means they’re short-sighted.
…so not running into walls is the new metric for intelligence? I literally could believe that!
So the answer to inflation from the big brain author is : ” Congress Should …..”
Just fuck off. And keep fucking off until you get to fuck-off-ville and then fuck off from there
We got a trebuchet pointed in the general direction of Fukoffville and are offering free express transportation there. One way of course.
Cat ladies in training.
Hedges has written a few good articles, but this wasn’t one. He’s written about the USSA (UN) being a Democracy in name only.
.
A common sense update on Global-Capitalism versus Sovereign Nations (senior editor at Ronin’s Revelations). February, 2024 edition:
.
https://roninhardjan.substack.com/p/americas-shadow-government-behind
Yes 10 trillion in printed money would never cause inflation!!!!!!
The problem is people are paying the absurd prices for shit. I tell ya what, one area this is the case is with ammunition. There is no way that demand and so called inflation has driven the price of ammo the point it is at now. There are only a few companies that make the ammunition and all of the components and they are gouging the fuck out of people. I haven’t bought a box of ammo in almost 2 years after the Covid prices drove up the cost. I was waiting for prices to come down, but instead they went up even further. Luckily I can reload and have a good stockpile of components I bought cheap back in the day (primers were 3 cents a pop vs 10 cents now, powder averaged $25 per pound, now $40).
Was at wally world the other day .22 lr. was about .10 a round
Hillary and crowd have many time proposed a 5000 % TAX on ammo.
Yes, Five Thousand Percent. One day , they will sneak it into law as a rider on some other bill.
Now you know.
try “ammo seek” and buy by the case. it is always cheaper to buy by the case. I have not bought a” single box” of ammo in years now. always by the case. even the deals on “gun deals” the prices are better than your local store.
And sadly that shit has an expiration date, so…future, anyone?
Dog treats are more expensive than rib eyes. Probably just as well, because they are usually poisonous.
Chicken breast and a dehydrator. Cheap and good doggie treats.
That’s a great idea. I need a dehydrator.
You’ve got one. It’s called an “oven”. Try using the lowest setting.
Jeebus.
The dogs, their treats, or the steaks?
How about increasing competition? There is a decrease in the ability of anyone entering a market. Consolidation and the elimination of smaller companies has created near, if not outright monopolies. BS protectionism in all areas disincentivizes any attempt/ability to enter markets.
Crony capitalism rules.
Bingo! Monopolies can’t exist in a Free Market. Banks choose winners and losers by financing the operations of businesses that would otherwise be undercut by competition…and Government Regulations dis incentivize market entry by politically unconnected competitors.
100% this. If you check out the cited report you’ll notice they’re defining “corporate profit” as “the share of total income that was earned by corporations since the beginning of the pandemic.”
The increase in that percent of total $ earned by corps (vs small business) stems entirely from tons of little guys getting run out of business by covid lunacy while the total GDP remained relatively stable.
Prime example….
Hungry for profits
In the last three years, the profits of the five biggest traders in agricultural commodities tripled compared to the years before. Together, ADM, Bunge, Cargill, COFCO and Louis Dreyfuss Company (ABCCD) hold a monopoly position on the global market for staples like grain, corn, soy and sugar. This enables them to influence pricing and costs, which resulted in their excessive profits and fuelled inflation…
I don’t give a crap about their opinions on fixing it, but they are correct that corporate profiteering is at proportions that illegitimize the government. When the government protects the highwaymen, what even is the point?
Hmm, I think I remember someone warning us about corporations and banks.
Would his name happen to rhyme with “Bomb Us, Jefferstones” ?
Corporate profits aside, inflation is a measure of an INCREASE. Inflation will ALWAYS EXIST because it is the GOAL of the criminal Federal Reserve to see inflation at 2% per year. Just because inflation is no longer 5 or 6% doesn’t mean that prices HAVE COME DOWN. It only means that they are not going up as fast. Even dunbass Varney on Fox News doesn’t get that. Deflation is the enemy of the FED, while dropping prices would be a welcome thing for consumers.
Bankers created the boom-bust cycles themselves with corp. business partners as a catalyst to enact the private fed reserve bank cartel that THEY OWN.
We always hear about ” the debt ” all nations owe. Few ask who do we ” owe ” it too and why ?
From the article: “ Let’s demonstrate with one glaring example: diapers”. Wow. No mention of cloth diapers as an alternative. Oh how did families survive without disposable diapers?
Here is an idea – do what my family did. Cloth diapers. Cook from scratch, including bread. Bake. Grow food. Raise chickens. Toughen the fuck up.
This day was always coming.
But woe is us – the cost of something that people don’t actually need has gone up!
And then this: “ PepsiCo raised its prices on snacks and beverages by roughly 15 percent”. Lard ass Americans don’t need that shit anyway. They are doing you a favor by raising their prices.
The article talks about used cars. Used cars! Ameiricans borrow money to buy used cars. Here is an idea – save up and pay cash and buy from a private seller. Like it used to be. My father never owned a new car. And he also never had a car payment. What an idea! He paid cash! Unbelievable, right?
Loopy, not I who thumbed you down, but get real , Chief.
Your father could by a good used car for 200, wasn’t forced into 300.00 a month car insurance and now healthcare, too , plus 1,600 a month for a shitty ghetto apartment, and wages kept pace with inflation…. smh…back in muh day we worked and paid our own way out of poverty….reeeeee
People like you are a big reason the kids today hate fuckin’ boomers.
Yawn. The reason they don’t pay cash is they are so in debt. And my dad never paid $200 for a car – they were lots more than that. You don’t know what you are talking about. Probably under a grand, then fixed them up, drove them a few years, sold them for as much as he paid as he kept them clean. Also, when he bought the next one, he had something paid for to sell to cover some of the cost. How about today?
Kids hate boomers because they are lazy with no work ethic and a huge sense of entitlement. They want what boomers have, after a lifetime of work, and they want it now.
Flash, sure seems some of your topsoil has blown away.
My kids don’t borrow money except for a mortgage. They own their cars out right, and their houses are about paid for at 30. Their student loans are finished. Etc.
You are full of shit. Quit making excuses for lazy ass, entitles young people. Hardworking, smart young people who got a bit of decent rearing at home are doing just fine.
They are in debt because they can’t afford to live in a world were the value of the dollar has lost nearly 700% of it value since 1970 , but you are a special boi who pulled himself up by his pantyhose, took that free ride to Princeton and made dat’ money….reeeee
BTW, back in the day, car and truck’s from the 60’s and 70’s could be had for a few hundred buck and no fixin’ required. I’ve , bought and sold quite a few. And, therein lies the rub with self-deluded boomers. They think that their unique life situation was the same for everybody…but we da’ special bois…and dey’ chillen’ special , too….smh.
Flash you are full of shit.
I just bought a car for less than 10% of my annual salary and it will last twice as long as some shit box from the 70’s
I’ve been buying used cars the last 10 years or so for $4-7,000. Recently bought a 2015 Hyundai Accent with about 125,000 miles for $5k. Should run fine with minimal maintenance for 5+ years and another 75-100,000 miles. Yes, $1,600 gets you a shitty apartment in many places these days. Wages never kept pace with inflation. When I got out of college with $9,000 debt at 9%, minimum wage was $3.35. And the only job offer I had was assistant manager at KFC for $11k / year. (stupid liberal arts degree).
There are plenty of reasons to dislike boomers. There’s the Beatles, for example (although they were not boomers). And the kids today face new worrisome challenges. Like AI. 5% of people probably have the smarts to work on or work with AI. The other 95% will either have to compete with Bangalore or (if they’re smart) start a business doing shitty things that no one wants to do and that can’t be outsourced – like septic line repair. But LLPOH’s point is that they don’t know how to scrimp. When I was in my 20’s and had no money, I lived on boiled potatoes and ramen. Kids now will spend $24 to have Door Dash deliver McDonalds.
Iska – my go to cheap meal when I was poor was a $0.25 box of off brand Mac and cheese with a single hot dog sliced into it. Otherwise, I cooked things like spaghetti, a pot of pinto beans, etc.
Yes, that is my point. People don’t cook at home, they buy disposable diapers, if they have a dishwasher they buy tablets at triple the cost of powder detergent to save 5 seconds, they take out seven year car loans, they eat out all the time, etc. Not sure how people think things were all so rosy when boomers were kids. People struggled, but knew how to survive on the smell of an oily rag. Not today.
LOl….. poor pitful starbed Loopy…Your sad saga would make Dostoevsky and Dickerson weep.
But I was po’….reeeee
Some, but not all and then theres the old adage about living today…kids may be more prescient than we think.
Flash is just a desperate beta who wants to get into their pants.
Jesus! just left Chicago, butt He didn’t take the bus!
Cloth Diapers.
Know a couple up The Holler who started with cloth, & then switched, to disposable… VERY Dangerous!
4 days later, They had to take the Baby to the Doctor.
Been YEARS, but to the best of my recollection, As the hubby recounted to me, over some home-made ‘shine & some REALLY Stinky Homegrown:
“Won’t have to change as often”, She told her hubby.
He Said: 👁️ suspected Gastrointestinal Issues. Baby started crying non-stop, appeared to be bloating, and we started to catch whiffs of a foul odor occasionally, so the Wife took the baby to the Doc to for a check-up.
As it turned out? Wife None Too Bright. Either.
The Doc said: “Lady, there MUST be 8# of Shit in this Diaper!”
She Said: “So? The Box said the diaper was rated for 6 to 10 pounds“.
————–
Did You EVER Wonder what lack of Breast Feeding by the Chest Feeders did in General? In Particular?
As Far as the cars, the environment, and a Yuuge ‘Solution’ to MANY of Our current woes?
MMT*. Empirically, NOT a ‘THEORY’
Guaranteed! It will solve Soooo Many issues. Overnight!!!
* Mandatory Manual Transmissions
There is crony capitalism to be sure. That is what electric cars ,MIC,wind mills and solar panels are all about. Every public private partnership is the private partners milking the public. That said Inflation is the creation of more currency without corresponding increases in production. That is the definition of inflation kind of like water is wet. It is stealing from people unless you are among the favored few. It is easy because 80% of the people don’t even know it is being done.
BTW Llpoh is right. It is easy to steal from the public if they are dumb and lazy.
Because real capitalism hasn’t been tried yet…reeeee
“It cannot be too often repeated that what destroyed the Family in the modern world was Capitalism. No doubt it might have been Communism, if Communism had ever had a chance, outside that semi-Mongolian wilderness where it actually flourishes. But, so far as we are concerned, what has broken up households and encouraged divorces, and treated the old domestic virtues with more and more open contempt, is the epoch and Power of Capitalism. It is Capitalism that has forced a moral feud and a commercial competition between the sexes; that has destroyed the influence of the parent in favour of the influence of the employer; that has driven men from their homes to look for jobs; that has forced them to live near their factories or their firms instead of near their families; and, above all, that has encouraged, for commercial reasons, a parade of publicity and garish novelty, which is in its nature the death of all that was called dignity and modesty by our mothers and fathers.”
― G.K. Chesterton
Birth control destroyed the modern family.
Women can’t control their own sexuality.
Both have a 5-letter middle name that begins wikth “K”.
Entitlement mentality is real…
So I’m thinking “Call the cops.” But this is probably California; the cops aren’t going to do anything.
I’d at least flatten a tire and push it out into the street.
Bear mace to the face. Go back inside.
Looked like a NY tag
I see it on his face. He’s thinking about climbing right on up there with the other bonus holes!
these authors are morons. you can almost guarantee a four hundred word article that has to be authored by TWO women trying to talk about economics, is going to be full of propagandist b.s.
‘profits’ arent inflation its prices minus product costs for production on the top and a deduction of period costs on the bottom. the same price increases experienced by people were experienced in costs for companies. ‘record’ profits is reflected in the rising prices companies charge to remain operational. See things like labor and the results at UPS.
prices arent inflation, they are the result of inflation… course a convenient change of defining inflation by the Fed put a stop to any actual questioning of the narrative. Changing a definition does not change the consequences.
No, it’s inflation:
.
.
This doesn’t help, either:
(From May 2010 – fifty times worse now)
Rep Alan Grayson Introduces the War Is Making You Poor Act
“Especially when we’re using a Chinese credit card to pay for it.” ~ Grayson
Even Dem rep doesn’t like his Dem prez, Obomber. Rayciss, right?
if you dont like it, fight back you bunch of nitwits!
Hey, I have a better idea lets tax the corporations so much they first lay off employees, then raise taxes some more so they go out of business! Then you won’t have to worry about the corporations’ making profits. Stupidest part of the article “Congress should use this opportunity to raise taxes on corporations.” Ever heard of K street ladies? Congress critters are owned by these same corporations. Besides, Congress does not care about the average citizen, get a clue.
Its all part of the theatre. The People don’t like taxes as its theft plain and simple.
So heres what they do. Some of the very patriotic politicals will bellow with great flair that they will tax those vile corporations and make’m pay their fair share. The Peoples luv the show and cheer rah rah.
Then one of two things happens.
Ongoing nothings but more theatre.
Or, a new bill is enacted taxing the rich corporations, but whats left out is the numerous loopholes created for the corporations that amounts to zero increases in taxes and often quite the opposite, a few bonus’s here’n there. But its all just great theatre… vote moar harderer
” Congress does not care about the average citizen, get a clue. ”
Reminder : Congress all got satellite phones issued to them 6 months ago. Just in case cells go down. Did your reps. tell you ?
“Congress all got satellite phones issued to them 6 months ago.”
Yes inflation measure is down this year from last year but the inflation does not reset every year as government would want you believe. Inflation for the previous two year were 8% and 7% respectively. Add that to the last year inflation of 3% and you have a total of 18% inflation for the Biden years. Has anyone received 20% increase in pay to offset this disaster?
Ok , time again for this. PSYOPS and Inflation.. I saw an episode of Little House on the Prarie where Mrs. Ingles was in the general store griping about inflation. Coffee was up to 12 cents a pound , my , my , my.
It was written into the script of that 1970’s show, to fool the masses that inflation was always a thing , a constant , like gravity. Pure mind-fuckery.
What a moron. Just because wood pulp went down does not mean their other costs went down. Fuel, electricity, labor and so on. Inflation slowing down doesn’t lower prices, they just stop rising.
The Left is pitching this concept, as they are anti-capitalist.
Oh, and the increase in minimum wages for Walmart, etc. along with people, you know, stealing diapers and sundry.
I have been saying this for 2 years. Monetary inflation is mostly sequestered and a lot of the rest is offset by deflationary activity.
Biden admin lower prices of their lockstep corporate facist partners? Good luck with that one!
For 2 kids we bought probably 5 dozen cloth diapers, a diaper pail, and some Boraxo. Once in a while we’d use a disposable, like when we took the kids to the nursery while attending a church service. Saved a lot of money to boot. Interesting thing: after all these years some of those nice, soft cotton diapers are still in use for all kinds of gentle cleaning tasks. The writers of this piece are about as clueless as a bag of rocks.
While the legislation made some tax cuts to corporate profit permanent, lowered individual tax rates will expire on Dec. 31, 2025.
Well, you know how it goes or blows regardless who.
It isn’t an either/or proposition. It never was. Both can be, and ARE, true.
Trying to convince you otherwise IS the gas light.
See? This shit ain’t hard to deconstruct.
Be thankful you’re just getting ripped off and blown off…and not ripped up and blown up.
That comes NEXT!