It’s impossible for working people not to feel the squeeze on their wallets as the price of practically everything from food to gas to medicine keeps rising. It feels like there is no end in sight. This is the biggest surge in inflation in 40 years, with a 7.5% average increase in prices over the past 12 months alone.
Politicians want to tell us that all of this is simply due to global supply chain problems. But this doesn’t explain why so many big corporations are making record profits at the same time.
Starbucks has been raising prices and blaming it on supply shortages while it is reporting a 31% increase in profits. The same for McDonald’s which has reported its highest revenue in five years.
It’s the same story for the biggest retail companies, including Amazon, Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and Target — profits are soaring as they raise prices on consumers. Amazon’s profits nearly doubled in the last quarter.
Meat packing corporations are doing the same thing. In the last quarter, beef prices increased by a whopping 32%, with chicken up about 20% and pork 13%. At the same time, Tyson foods, the biggest meat packing corporation in the country, saw its highest profits in years, with an increase of about 24% in the recent quarter.
And on it goes to oil companies too, with fuel prices hitting the highest point in about a decade. But even though working people are hurting, oil companies are seeing their highest profits in about eight years.
So, if prices are going up only because of supply chain problems, then why are corporate profits at record levels? In reality, corporations aren’t just paying more for supplies and raising prices to cover the gap. No, corporations are using the supply chain disruptions to raise prices above and beyond their increased costs and are seeing super profits because of it.
In other words, corporations are just ripping us off. They are making record profits only because we are paying record prices.
