4 ms·

And this wage suppression was direct collusion, corporations have such an oligopoly now they hardly need to explicitly collude, both on wages or prices. A comp

by leshow 4y ago

And this wage suppression was direct collusion, corporations have such an oligopoly now they hardly need to explicitly collude, both on wages or prices. A company raises the price for something, and it's called 'price leadership', other companies recognize it is in their interest to follow suit and prices go up. The same dynamic exists for wages. Years of not enforcing anti-trust have left us in a pretty bad spot.

WalterBright 4y ago
We've seen across the board price increases recently, but it was inflation, not collusion. How do you explain price decreases? > Years of not enforcing anti-trust have left us in a pretty bad spot. And yet STEM graduates were getting $200K+ for their first jobs. How is that collusion working out?
- ClumsyPilot 4y ago
  Inflation is just tge cover story. 2021 was the most profitable year for big corporations since 1950, with pre-tax profits rising to $2.5 trillion and after-tax profits surging 35%, enabling the 1% to finally overtake the middle class in share of overall wealth. 53% of price increases went straight to profit. They've got you right where they want you. https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2022/05/10/how-windfall-profits-have-supercharged-food-inflation/?sh=610c48ea6672 https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2022/05/10/how-w... > And yet STEM graduates were getting $200K+ for their first jobs. How is that collusion working out? ?? City traders can make millions, they actually get a cut of profits they generate.
- leshow 4y ago
  I'm not sure what you think inflation is, but it is just the prices of certain key items going up: food, housing, transportation are the main ones. Corporations decide to set their prices higher, and you have a price inflation. We know that this is not merely a function of their inputs going up because many companies have been pulling in record profits during this time period. Nobody needs to meet in a smoke filled room for this to happen. > And yet STEM graduates were getting $200K+ for their first jobs. How is that collusion working out? You're being distracted with a nickel while your pockets are being emptied. It's all relative. Look at the cash big tech firms have in the bank. Google used 60B dollars to inflate their stock price this year with stock buybacks at the same time they laid of 6% of their workforce.

by leshow 4y ago

WalterBright 4y ago

We've seen across the board price increases recently, but it was inflation, not collusion. How do you explain price decreases? > Years of not enforcing anti-trust have left us in a pretty bad spot. And yet STEM graduates were getting $200K+ for their first jobs. How is that collusion working out?

ClumsyPilot 4y ago
Inflation is just tge cover story. 2021 was the most profitable year for big corporations since 1950, with pre-tax profits rising to $2.5 trillion and after-tax profits surging 35%, enabling the 1% to finally overtake the middle class in share of overall wealth. 53% of price increases went straight to profit. They've got you right where they want you. https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2022/05/10/how-windfall-profits-have-supercharged-food-inflation/?sh=610c48ea6672 https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2022/05/10/how-w... > And yet STEM graduates were getting $200K+ for their first jobs. How is that collusion working out? ?? City traders can make millions, they actually get a cut of profits they generate.
leshow 4y ago
I'm not sure what you think inflation is, but it is just the prices of certain key items going up: food, housing, transportation are the main ones. Corporations decide to set their prices higher, and you have a price inflation. We know that this is not merely a function of their inputs going up because many companies have been pulling in record profits during this time period. Nobody needs to meet in a smoke filled room for this to happen. > And yet STEM graduates were getting $200K+ for their first jobs. How is that collusion working out? You're being distracted with a nickel while your pockets are being emptied. It's all relative. Look at the cash big tech firms have in the bank. Google used 60B dollars to inflate their stock price this year with stock buybacks at the same time they laid of 6% of their workforce.