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.
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