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On any given day, Groundwork's analyses, op-eds, reports, and commentary are featured in leading publications and on the most influential news programs and podcasts.
On any given day, Groundwork's analyses, op-eds, reports, and commentary are featured in leading publications and on the most influential news programs and podcasts.
And the record profits Professor Weber mentions? Groundwork Collaborative recently found that corporate profits accounted for 53% of 2023 inflation. EPI likewise concluded that over 51% of the drastically higher inflationary pressures of 2020 and 2021 were also direct results of profits. The Kansas City Federal Reserve even pegged this around 40%, indicating that sellers’ inflation is now a pretty mainstream idea.
President Biden recently put pressure on grocers to lower prices, accusing stores of reaping excess profits and scamming shoppers. His comments came amid Groundwork Collaborative's new report that placed blame on corporate profiteering as one of the underlying causes of grocery price inflation.
As covered by The New York Times and Washington Post, this new report finds that families are now paying 25 percent more for groceries than they were before the pandemic, outpacing overall inflation. The report offers policy recommendations to address the high cost of groceries and reduce the risk of future price spikes, building on the steps the Biden administration has already taken to offset these price increases.
The left-leaning think tank, the Groundwork Collaborative, said nearly a third of the rise in grocery prices can be blamed on beef, chicken, fruits, vegetables and snacks – all particularly vulnerable to supply chain issues, The Washington Post reported on Friday. Labor shortages, supply chain issues, drought, avian influenza and other factors, including industry consolidation, affect food prices, the report noted.
I debated whether this next one belongs more in research than in economic indicators, but I see this as a yellow flashing light on the dashboard of consumers’ mental state, which naturally leads to their willingness to spend. A report by Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive thinktank, found that corporate profits made up 53% of inflation during the third and fourth quarters of 2023.
The Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning think tank, reported Friday that almost 30 percent of the rise in grocery prices has been driven by just five categories of food particularly vulnerable to supply chain shocks, including beef, chicken, fruits and vegetables and snacks.
"Today's stellar jobs report marks two straight years of unemployment below 4 [percent] and 18 months of cooling inflation, an achievement many economists did not think was possible," Bilal Baydoun, director of policy and research at think tank Groundwork Collaborative, said. "The data is very clear that we never had to sacrifice jobs for lower prices."
However, progressive economists are still doubling down on interest rate cuts and hoping central bankers will heed the call. “High interest rates will only slow our clean energy transition and put families in more debt. Chair Powell must change his tune and cut rates in March,” Groundwork Collaborative research director Bilal Baydoun said in a Friday statement.
In one sign the leftward pressure is unlikely to abate, Bilal Baydoun of the Groundwork Collaborative reacted to Friday's jobs number by reiterating his call for immediate cuts. "The data is very clear that we never had to sacrifice jobs for lower prices," he wrote in a statement. His group is closely aligned with liberal figures like Warren.
With its 2% inflation target in sight, the Fed has predicted three quarter-point rate cuts this year. Lindsay Owens, executive director at the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Groundwork Collaborative, said she would like to see those cuts happen as soon as possible, and for the central bank to take a fresh look at what has caused inflation to rise and fall.