ICYMI: Corporations Use Inflation Fears as Excuse to Raise Prices, Increase Profits

While rising prices continue to take a toll on millions of families, a new Accountable report shows dozens of corporate giants, including Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola, used inflation as an excuse to increase prices and enjoy record-breaking profits. This report confirms what Groundwork’s Chief Economist Dr. Rakeen Mabud told Popular Information last week:

“[A]cross a range of sectors that produce the goods that people need to provide for their families, companies are extracting from their consumers using the excuse of inflation — all while lining their shareholders’ and CEO’s pockets. This has nothing to do with inflation, and everything to do with corporate greed by those who are focused on enriching themselves at the expense of workers and families.”

Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to learn more about one of the driving factors of rising prices: mega-corporations with massive market power. Below is a sampling of reporting on recent price hikes that got it right: 

• The Wall Street Journal: What Does Inflation Mean for American Businesses? For Some, Bigger Profits. Executives are seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to raise prices to match and in some cases outpace their own higher expenses, after decades of grinding down costs and prices. [11/14/21]
• CNBC: Walmart tops earnings estimates, wins back grocery shoppers as inflation heats up. Walmart’s fiscal third-quarter earnings on Tuesday topped analysts’ expectations as price-sensitive grocery shoppers flocked to its stores amid rising costs for household staples. [11/16/21]
• Business Insider: Corporations are using inflation as an excuse to raise prices and make fatter profits — and it’s making the problem worse. Corporate pre-tax profits as a share of total US output have also reached a multi-year high of 13.5% in the second quarter, which means that companies are taking an even larger slice of the economic pie. And that number is trending higher. [11/17/21]

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Groundwork Collaborative: The Groundwork Collaborative’s mission is to advance an economic vision for strong, broadly shared prosperity and true opportunity for all. Visit our website and follow us on Twitter @Groundwork.