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It's just an effort to shift blame from the inflation caused by the administration's policies. Larry Summers, a Harvard economist who served in the Clinton and

It's just an effort to shift blame from the inflation caused by the administration's policies. Larry Summers, a Harvard economist who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, correctly warned that inflation would spike due to loose fiscal and monetary policy in 2021: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/26/economy/inflation-larry-summers-biden-fed/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/26/economy/inflation-larry-summe...

diob 2y ago
This is easy to refute: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL If anything this admin has made efforts to tighten the money supply versus the previous admin. https://ibb.co/T2t964g https://ibb.co/T2t964g https://ibb.co/zNtCcpw https://ibb.co/zNtCcpw
toomuchtodo 2y ago
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/us-inflation-caused-by-corporate-profits https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/us-inflatio... ("Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds") https://www.npr.org/2023/05/19/1177180972/economists-are-reconsidering-how-much-corporate-profits-drive-inflation https://www.npr.org/2023/05/19/1177180972/economists-are-rec... ("Economists are reconsidering how much corporate profits drive inflation") https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-bulletin/corporate-profits-contributed-a-lot-to-inflation-in-2021-but-little-in-2022/ https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-bulletin/cor... ("Corporate Profits Contributed a Lot to Inflation in 2021 but Little in 2022—A Pattern Seen in Past Economic Recoveries") https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-caused-the-u-s-pandemic-era-inflation/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-caused-the-u-s-pande... ("Brookings Institute: What caused the U.S. pandemic-era inflation?") Larry Summers is a hack, I'm unsure how he any goodwill left to buy ears with: "From his newly elevated platform in June 2022, Summers delivered another prophecy of woe. During remarks before the London School of Economics, Summers declared that “we need five years of unemployment above 5 percent to contain inflation — in other words, we need two years of 7.5 percent unemployment or five years of 6 percent unemployment or one year of 10 percent unemployment.” In the Harvard professor’s estimation, U.S. policymakers had no choice but to deliberately throw millions of Americans out of work or else accept a steadily deepening inflationary crisis." https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/larry-summers-was-wrong-about-inflation.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/larry-summers-was-wr... ("Larry Summers Was Wrong About Inflation") https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-30/wages-not-important-driver-of-us-inflation-sf-fed-study-finds https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-30/wages-not... | https://archive.today/zAIzK https://archive.today/zAIzK ("Bloomberg: Wages Are Not an Important Driver of US Inflation, San Francisco Fed Study Finds") https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE ("FRED: Unemployment rate") https://apnews.com/article/inflation-prices-consumers-economy-spending-federal-reserve-c69408f05baeffac0023ceb76b747999 https://apnews.com/article/inflation-prices-consumers-econom... ("Americans’ refusal to keep paying higher prices may be dealing a final blow to US inflation spike")
- Bostonian 2y ago
  Companies would always like to raise prices and increase profits. There were able to do so in 2022 in part because too much government spending ("stimulus") had increased demand without a corresponding increase in supply.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - autoexec 2y ago
    > Companies would always like to raise prices and increase profits. And they're constantly trying to test the limits of what buyers will tolerate. Normally if they push too hard too quickly people start to feel cheated and sales drop. The pandemic was unique in that many people were desperate for familiar comforts. It fed a willingness to spend more if that was required. People were also primed to accept that everyone was struggling, even the companies making their products. There were legitimate supply chain issues and shortages for a time early in the pandemic. The news was filled with stories about suck boats, clogged ports, and shipping container shortages. That all helped consumers to be more forgiving of higher prices too. It didn't come out until much later that companies were actually pulling in record profits at the expense of consumers many of which were struggling to keep food on their tables and their bills paid. There was also collusion. Normally when one brand increases their prices, consumers who feel the price is too high will seek lower priced alternatives. When every company agrees to jack up their prices at the same time there's no where else for consumers to turn to and again, consumers were already less prepared to settle on something else or go without. Consumers had been sacrificing, putting up with less, or going without entirely for a long time already. People were willing to go into debt to get the things that would help them to feel better or adjust to being and working at home. > too much government spending ("stimulus") had increased demand without a corresponding increase in supply. Companies just took advantage of the situation. There really wasn't even a lack of supply in 2022. Supply could not have been higher. The US was overfilled with goods. Stores were overflowing with unsold merchandise and warehouse space became critically low. Some examples: http://stylemagazine.com/news/2022/aug/30/kohls-and-gap-have-surprising-plan-seasons-unsold-/ http://stylemagazine.com/news/2022/aug/30/kohls-and-gap-have... https://www.androidheadlines.com/2022/06/samsung-unsold-inventory-50-million-smartphones-galaxy.html https://www.androidheadlines.com/2022/06/samsung-unsold-inve... https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-puts-squeeze-suppliers-after-inventories-pile-up-2022-07-22/ https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-puts... https://www.forconstructionpros.com/business/article/22198029/dodge-data-analytics-warehouse-construction-to-increase-to-53b-in-2022 https://www.forconstructionpros.com/business/article/2219802... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/warehouse-supply-chain-crisis-christmas-shopping-b1938205.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/warehouse-supply... You'd expect that a massive oversupply would result in lower prices, but that's not what happened. Stores decided they'd rather horde their merchandise in storage and prices rose higher and higher. There were a lot of things feeding into inflation but the pathetic amount of disaster relief American citizens received from either administration to help them get through lock downs and the other financial stresses put on them was not the cause it. The billions in Covid relief funds set aside for businesses that got wasted or lost might not have helped though ultimately the real cause was just greed.

diob 2y ago

This is easy to refute: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL If anything this admin has made efforts to tighten the money supply versus the previous admin. https://ibb.co/T2t964g https://ibb.co/T2t964g https://ibb.co/zNtCcpw https://ibb.co/zNtCcpw

toomuchtodo 2y ago

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/us-inflation-caused-by-corporate-profits https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/us-inflatio... ("Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds") https://www.npr.org/2023/05/19/1177180972/economists-are-reconsidering-how-much-corporate-profits-drive-inflation https://www.npr.org/2023/05/19/1177180972/economists-are-rec... ("Economists are reconsidering how much corporate profits drive inflation") https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-bulletin/corporate-profits-contributed-a-lot-to-inflation-in-2021-but-little-in-2022/ https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-bulletin/cor... ("Corporate Profits Contributed a Lot to Inflation in 2021 but Little in 2022—A Pattern Seen in Past Economic Recoveries") https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-caused-the-u-s-pandemic-era-inflation/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-caused-the-u-s-pande... ("Brookings Institute: What caused the U.S. pandemic-era inflation?") Larry Summers is a hack, I'm unsure how he any goodwill left to buy ears with: "From his newly elevated platform in June 2022, Summers delivered another prophecy of woe. During remarks before the London School of Economics, Summers declared that “we need five years of unemployment above 5 percent to contain inflation — in other words, we need two years of 7.5 percent unemployment or five years of 6 percent unemployment or one year of 10 percent unemployment.” In the Harvard professor’s estimation, U.S. policymakers had no choice but to deliberately throw millions of Americans out of work or else accept a steadily deepening inflationary crisis." https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/larry-summers-was-wrong-about-inflation.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/larry-summers-was-wr... ("Larry Summers Was Wrong About Inflation") https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-30/wages-not-important-driver-of-us-inflation-sf-fed-study-finds https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-30/wages-not... | https://archive.today/zAIzK https://archive.today/zAIzK ("Bloomberg: Wages Are Not an Important Driver of US Inflation, San Francisco Fed Study Finds") https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE ("FRED: Unemployment rate") https://apnews.com/article/inflation-prices-consumers-economy-spending-federal-reserve-c69408f05baeffac0023ceb76b747999 https://apnews.com/article/inflation-prices-consumers-econom... ("Americans’ refusal to keep paying higher prices may be dealing a final blow to US inflation spike")

Bostonian 2y ago
Companies would always like to raise prices and increase profits. There were able to do so in 2022 in part because too much government spending ("stimulus") had increased demand without a corresponding increase in supply.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- autoexec 2y ago
  > Companies would always like to raise prices and increase profits. And they're constantly trying to test the limits of what buyers will tolerate. Normally if they push too hard too quickly people start to feel cheated and sales drop. The pandemic was unique in that many people were desperate for familiar comforts. It fed a willingness to spend more if that was required. People were also primed to accept that everyone was struggling, even the companies making their products. There were legitimate supply chain issues and shortages for a time early in the pandemic. The news was filled with stories about suck boats, clogged ports, and shipping container shortages. That all helped consumers to be more forgiving of higher prices too. It didn't come out until much later that companies were actually pulling in record profits at the expense of consumers many of which were struggling to keep food on their tables and their bills paid. There was also collusion. Normally when one brand increases their prices, consumers who feel the price is too high will seek lower priced alternatives. When every company agrees to jack up their prices at the same time there's no where else for consumers to turn to and again, consumers were already less prepared to settle on something else or go without. Consumers had been sacrificing, putting up with less, or going without entirely for a long time already. People were willing to go into debt to get the things that would help them to feel better or adjust to being and working at home. > too much government spending ("stimulus") had increased demand without a corresponding increase in supply. Companies just took advantage of the situation. There really wasn't even a lack of supply in 2022. Supply could not have been higher. The US was overfilled with goods. Stores were overflowing with unsold merchandise and warehouse space became critically low. Some examples: http://stylemagazine.com/news/2022/aug/30/kohls-and-gap-have-surprising-plan-seasons-unsold-/ http://stylemagazine.com/news/2022/aug/30/kohls-and-gap-have... https://www.androidheadlines.com/2022/06/samsung-unsold-inventory-50-million-smartphones-galaxy.html https://www.androidheadlines.com/2022/06/samsung-unsold-inve... https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-puts-squeeze-suppliers-after-inventories-pile-up-2022-07-22/ https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-puts... https://www.forconstructionpros.com/business/article/22198029/dodge-data-analytics-warehouse-construction-to-increase-to-53b-in-2022 https://www.forconstructionpros.com/business/article/2219802... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/warehouse-supply-chain-crisis-christmas-shopping-b1938205.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/warehouse-supply... You'd expect that a massive oversupply would result in lower prices, but that's not what happened. Stores decided they'd rather horde their merchandise in storage and prices rose higher and higher. There were a lot of things feeding into inflation but the pathetic amount of disaster relief American citizens received from either administration to help them get through lock downs and the other financial stresses put on them was not the cause it. The billions in Covid relief funds set aside for businesses that got wasted or lost might not have helped though ultimately the real cause was just greed.