Put The Blame Where It Belongs!

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

This morning I saw a tweet from none other than the shameful Texas Senator Ted Cruz in which, without facts or justification, he blamed President Biden and Democrats for rising prices and inflation.

I take umbrage with his laying of the blame on the very people who are trying to combat high prices and inflation.

Here are some cold, hard facts to chew on …

  • The 10 largest food companies saw their net incomes increase by $393.6 million in the first six months of 2022, while increasing shareholder handouts by $3.8 billion to a total of over $12.1 billion.
  • Prices for energy services rose 18.8% and electricity prices rose 15.2% from July 2021 to July 2022, leaving 20 million households at risk of losing electricity. Meanwhile, the five largest electricity and utility companies increased shareholder handouts by $378 million to over $6.5 billion in the first half of 2022.
  • While 18 million Americans were unable to afford prescription medications, the largest U.S. drugmakers saw profits jump by over $6 billion to $36 billion — all while boosting shareholder handouts by over $5.2 billion to $24.5 billion in the first half of 2022.
  • As housing prices increased 5.7% from July 2021 to July 2022 and rents hit “record highs,” the biggest apartment companies — Mid-America Apartments, Starwood Properties, and AvalonBay Communities — touted rent hikes to pad profits by $295.9 million while increasing shareholder handouts $33.9 million to nearly $1 billion in the first half of 2022.

And here’s what the experts have to say …

  • In a recent speech, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Lael Brainard said that reductions in massive corporate profit markups can help to bring down inflation — once again demonstrating the link between price gouging and skyrocketing costs.
  • CEO Dara Khosrowshahi admitted in a recent CNBC interview that corporations like Uber are benefiting from inflation. Because of high prices on essential goods like gas and groceries, more people are signing up to be Uber drivers. He even said, “If anything, 72% of drivers in the U.S. are saying that one of the considerations of their signing up to drive on Uber was actually inflation.”
  • In this Forbes piece, Errol Schweizer lays out how market consolidation, price gouging, and excessive CEO pay are responsible for high food prices. To bring prices down, Congress needs to address each of these drivers of inflation, rather than simply looking to the Fed to continuously hike interest rates to decrease demand and send tens of millions of people into unemployment.
  • New polling from Navigator Research shows that nearly two in three Americans support the Inflation Reduction Act. Although Americans’ still hold negative views of the economy, overall pessimism is decreasing, with Black and Hispanic Americans in particular feeling more positive about their personal finances.

Source:  Dan Crawford, The Hub Project

There can be many causes for inflation, but today the biggest cause is corporate greed.  It began with the pandemic when the already-wealthy corporate CEOs saw an opportunity, and then it was further bolstered by Russia’s war against Ukraine that disrupted supply chains, and again the corporations saw an opportunity … an excuse … to gouge consumers.  To blame President Biden, who just signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, is the epitome of ignorance at best, and a bald-faced lie at worst.  Mr. Cruz needs to do some research before he opens his mouth … but oh wait … he’s a Republican and they don’t believe in facts, only rhetoric and conspiracy theories.

25 thoughts on “Put The Blame Where It Belongs!”

  1. Pingback: Put The Blame Where It Belongs! – Unexpected Objects

    • I just saw an article a bit ago that made my blood boil, that Liz Truss is advocating for tax cuts for the wealthy and “trickle down” economics, not only for the UK, but for all western nations! I couldn’t stop myself … my afternoon post addresses that issue and begins with “Can she really be so stupid?” No joy … none at all! There is no such thing as ‘trickle down’ … it trickles only upward! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

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  6. Pingback: PUT THE BLAME WHERE IT BELONGS. |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  7. Pingback: Put The Blame Where It Belongs! — Filosofa’s Word | Liming's Links

  8. This bunch of idiots have a habit of blaming other people for the same things they, themselves are guilty of. It is part of their nefarious scheme to try to divide the country and to take power for themselves on a permanent basis …They all play by Trump’s dark playbook … They are all a danger to all the rest of us.

    Liked by 2 people

    • It’s a game to them … a zero sum game where they see themselves as ‘winners’ and the rest of us as ‘losers’. They are indeed a danger to the rest of us, a danger to not only this nation, but the entire globe.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. I am no economist and do not pretend to be, but raising interest rates helps the wealthy make even greater profits, while lowering the the buying power of the poor so they cannot even afford to eat healthily. How the government agencies in charge of the Federal interest rate cannot see this is blind stupidity, OR ELSE it is WILLFUL COMPLICITY. Rob the poor to give to the rich! This is typical capitalism, but when the government pitches in to help the thieves, and hurt the lowest consumers, this is unconscionable. Do the CEOs of these money-grabbing corporations lose their jobs. No! They get raises. (A 1% raise in a corporate salary could pay the wages of 10 wage-slaves.) Meanwhile do the wage slaves get raises? No, they lose their jobs before anyone else, and lose all their buying power! (Every job lost increases the profits of the corporation!)
    This is on the Repughs, but it is also on the Demoncrats! Capitalism has gone insane, exactly l8ke Karl Marx predicted way over a century ago. But there will never be a revolution, because Capitalists saw the truth in Marx’s prediction, and made sure the revolution could not happen!
    And the sheep go forward unto the slaughter without complaint, compliant because they believe they are powerless!

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Jill, I wrote this today before read your piece.
    Note, presidents and legislators get too much credit and blame for the economy. They do provide some headwinds and tailwinds, but the economy is bigger than their jobs. The inflation we are seeing today has a lot to do with an inadequate supply chain. If you remember your economic graphs, when supply is low, prices go up. The pandemic hurt a great deal. To me, the tariffs imposed by the previous president and continued under the current one have upset our supply chains, where businesses had to find other sources of goods that they likely continued. I would add the Russian invasion of Ukraine has fueled fossil fuel price increases along with the continued disruption of a poorly planned and executed Brexit which has an echo effect.

    Are there some companies taking advantage of the inflation to charge even more? Yes. Upward prices are more elastic than downward prices. In other words they go up more easily, than prices fall on a downturn. But, we should remember companies that are too itchy on the price trigger.

    But, if Cruz wants to blame a president for all of this, he needs to include the last one as well for his tariffs which disrupted supply chains. Keith

    Liked by 4 people

  12. I was tempted to say “So, what else is new?”….but what’s new is that now, the future of freedom is at stake. Money talks, and the greed-meisters’ backing of right wing political candidates, “big lie” pushers, election deniers, and voter suppression fanatics is formidable. The will of the voters is at stake in the next election. If the GOP prevails, you can all-but- kiss democracy goodbye.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Exactly, my friend. At least in our lifetime, the challenges and the potential to lose it all have never been this great. I have recently come to believe that if the GOP prevails, if they dominate both chambers of Congress in January, we can indeed kiss democracy goodbye. They will burn the Constitution and I don’t know when, if ever, there will be another free, fair election.

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