> 1) how the goods in the CPI basket are monopoly priced This actually is not as far-fetched as you're implying. for many types of commodity goods (baby formu

> 1) how the goods in the CPI basket are monopoly priced This actually is not as far-fetched as you're implying. for many types of commodity goods (baby formula, chicken, etc) there really are only 2-3 major suppliers left in operation. Agribusiness has taken over and consolidated many types of produce as well. As we recently saw with baby food - disruptions localized to a single supplier can severely affect the entire product segment - this outcome can only occur in a highly-consolidated market. It wasn't like there was some problem at the baby farm and nobody could make babyfood, this was one supplier that took some lines offline and it caused national shortages. And it's not just babyfood, it's meat production, meat processing, and many other food products besides. Smithfield controls a majority of the meat market for several types of products too. "monopoly power" as regulated in the US has never required a literal monopoly situation and that would be incredibly unrealistic in a market economy. In practice, oligopoly pricing is sufficient to be very commanding if the participants decide to collude or to otherwise exert their power. > 2) why all these monopolies decided to raise prices now instead of 3 or 10 years ago. because consumers are generally primed to accept it right now, and there are legitimate supply-chain disruptions and increases to allow to you to handwave your increases away (price increases are far outpacing cost increases). If everyone else is increasing prices 20%, and your competitors probably are too... why not increase your prices too, even if you only needed 5-10%? Never let a good crisis go to waste, and all that.