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> No it hasn’t. The current economic turmoil has been caused by companies using the stimulus as something they can blame inflation on when they raise prices eve

> No it hasn’t. The current economic turmoil has been caused by companies using the stimulus as something they can blame inflation on when they raise prices even though they’re actually increasing their margins. You can trivially see this by looking at the financial reports of public companies that have raised their prices: If they were raising prices to cover increased costs, their margins wouldn’t change; in reality, lost of companies have taken the opportunity to increase their margins. Why do you think those greedy companies got greedy since 2020 and didn't in 2019? They were always greedy, they are just responding predictably to market conditions caused by the Fed and Congress. That's what changed, not the companies.

ceejayoz 4y ago
> Why do you think those greedy companies got greedy since 2020 and didn't in 2019? That's a misinterpretation of the point. The companies were greedy in both years, but 2020 gave them an external thing to blame. Consumers largely accepted the "it's COVID, what can you do?" explanation. In my city, the privatized gas/electricity utility is blaming COVID now, in 2023, for massive billing issues where folks are getting $10k bills and I'm only getting a bill every other month. It's not very plausible, but they're still using it as an excuse.
- ghiculescu 4y ago
  It's a shame your gas utility is behaving badly, but that's got nothing to do with tech CEOs.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    Again, missing the point; it's an example of using COVID as an excuse. Which tech CEOs, non-tech CEOs, and my energy supplier have engaged in.
mistermann 4y ago
I think it's entirely possible that there's been a more severe than usual change in culture, there really does seem to be a vibe out there where ultra rich people have absolutely no shame anymore at their greed...I mean, at some point the gap has to get so staggering wide between the rich and the poor that the notion that these people have any morals has to go out the door, doesn't it? But then 10 years ago I'd have never imagined it possible for things to ever get to this point, so what do I know.

ceejayoz 4y ago

> Why do you think those greedy companies got greedy since 2020 and didn't in 2019? That's a misinterpretation of the point. The companies were greedy in both years, but 2020 gave them an external thing to blame. Consumers largely accepted the "it's COVID, what can you do?" explanation. In my city, the privatized gas/electricity utility is blaming COVID now, in 2023, for massive billing issues where folks are getting $10k bills and I'm only getting a bill every other month. It's not very plausible, but they're still using it as an excuse.

ghiculescu 4y ago
It's a shame your gas utility is behaving badly, but that's got nothing to do with tech CEOs.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  Again, missing the point; it's an example of using COVID as an excuse. Which tech CEOs, non-tech CEOs, and my energy supplier have engaged in.

mistermann 4y ago

I think it's entirely possible that there's been a more severe than usual change in culture, there really does seem to be a vibe out there where ultra rich people have absolutely no shame anymore at their greed...I mean, at some point the gap has to get so staggering wide between the rich and the poor that the notion that these people have any morals has to go out the door, doesn't it? But then 10 years ago I'd have never imagined it possible for things to ever get to this point, so what do I know.