Current Events > Anyone noticed how expensive living has become?

(+) Yeah! (+)

$10 for a jar of peanut butter??!!

This topic will be 5 dollars

Bruh...

No, I'm dead

what happened

Where does peanut butter cost $10?

Patty_Fleur posted...

Where does peanut butter cost $10?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/6/0/AAe_4aAAC5Sw.jpg

Checkmate

You live in the Northwest Territories?

Patty_Fleur posted...

Where does peanut butter cost $10?

I've seen big jars of fancy brands cost that much. Definitely nowhere near that for an average size, average brand, though.

billcom6 posted...

You live in the Northwest Territories?

Yes

Of course we noticed. We knew what was going to happen when you wanted all your free Covid money and $15 an hour for working at McD0nAldz

-GalacticBass- posted...

Of course we noticed. We knew what was going to happen when you wanted all your free Covid money and $15 an hour for working at McD0nAldz

This reeks of "I make $25K/yr with minimal benefits but one day I'll be rich" energy, but I'm probably mistaken.

CRON posted...

This reeks of "I make $25K/yr with minimal benefits but one day I'll be rich" energy, but I'm probably mistaken.

lol you're definitely mistaken, buddy.

I know people making 80k without education but they're willing to work hard and wear a toolbag in negative 20 degree environments.

-GalacticBass- posted...

Of course we noticed. We knew what was going to happen when you wanted all your free Covid money and $15 an hour for working at McD0nAldz

Lol, right wing talking points.

corps are gouging for extra profits but then claiming they have to because costs and inflation BUT that is a lie

notice when places raise prices their stocks go up....because they are gonna make more PrOfItS

Its true. After buying a PS5, games, an Oculus Quest 2 and a Tyrant figure my expenses are through the roof! Whats Biden doing?!

Yes. Our grocery and gas bills have been exorbitant lately. Im sure a lot of things are a bit more expensive now but those two things are the most easily identifiable. Meanwhile our employers are begrudgingly forking over minimal pay raises this year.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/8/1/AAZtnkAAC1Bp.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/8/6/AAZtnkAAC5hO.png

CapnMuffin posted...

Yes. Our grocery and gas bills have been exorbitant lately. Im sure a lot of things are a bit more expensive now but those two things are the most easily identifiable. Meanwhile our employers are begrudgingly forking over minimal pay raises this year.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


https://www.reuters.com/business/meat-packers-profit-margins-jumped-300-during-pandemic-white-house-economics-2021-12-10/

Four of the biggest meat-processing companies, using their market power in the highly consolidated U.S. market to drive up meat prices and underpay farmers, have tripled their own net profit margins since the pandemic started, White House economics advisers said.

Meat packers' profit margins jumped 300% during pandemic - White House economics team

@M_Live

what i've noticed:

anyone commenting on the price of gasoline is not actually paying attention to trends at all, and has the memory of a goldfish

cost of most basic necessities (food/housing) has not meaningfully shifted with respect to wages

cost of several basic necessities (medical care, education, childcare) has massively increased with respect to wages

luxuries are cheap as hell

https://time.com/6139127/u-s-food-prices-monopoly/

U.S. Food Prices Are Up. Are the Food Corporations to Blame for Taking Advantage?
But theres evidence that monopolistic market structures are making things worse. Food production has consolidateddramatically since the 1970s after changes in antitrust policy allowed more companies to buy up their competitors. Depending on who you ask, antitrust practitioners say markets are oligopolistic or dangerously concentrated when the top four firms control 40% to 50% of the market, or more. Higher levels of concentration give businesses more power to set prices and increase the likelihood of price-fixing or market manipulation. Today, the top four corporations control more than 60% of the U.S. market for pork, coffee, cookies, beer, and bread. In beef processing, baby food, pasta, and soda the top four companies control more than 80% of the U.S. market.With tight control over production food companies have more power to exploit pandemic disruptions and unfairly raise prices. The White House recently argued as much in a brief published in December and a January roundtable with farmers and ranchers. Monopolistic price gouging is admittedly hard to prove, but the Federal Trade Commission is on the case. In late November the antitrust enforcer requested that Walmart, Kroger, Kraft, and Tyson, among others, hand over information in an investigation into price hikes and food shortages.

There is one clear indicator of excessive monopoly power: record corporate profits.

If rising food costs only reflected higher production costs, economists wouldnt expect net profits to rise, yet they are at historic levels.

Non-finance corporations are reporting their largest profit margins in 60 years. For some 100 of the largest publicly traded companies these profit margins are 50% higher than in 2019. Net profit margins for top meat companies Tyson Foods, JBS, Marfrig, and Seaboard are up over 300%, according to the White House. Tyson earned $1.36 billion in the 2021 fourth quarter, more than twice as much as last year. McDonalds, Coca Cola, and Kraft Heinz also reported better than expected fourth quarter profits.

With all the media hype about inflation, companies may take advantage of shoppers inflation expectations to charge a little extra and pad their pockets.

Analysis of corporate earnings calls by Business Insider and More Perfect Union reveal that food corporations such as Pepsi, Kroger, and Kelloggs are bragging to investors about their ability to increase prices. Tyson told their investors that their pricing actions more than offset the higher [cost of goods]. Even Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, acknowledged at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday, Jan. 11, that companies are raising prices because they can.