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Corporate Greed Price Hikes Trumping Inflation – Has Free Market Run Its Course?

In a recent report by Groundwork Collaborative on the causes of inflation, their analysis found that corporate profits have a more significant role in driving up consumer prices than commonly acknowledged economic factors. Despite a general decrease in inflation rates, the financial burden on American consumers persists due to corporate practices.

January 22, 2024 Financially+

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Greedflation: When inflation is passed to consumers from corporate profiteering

Liz Pancotti, a strategic advisor at Groundwork and one of the report’s authors, told Fortune: “Businesses were really, really quick, when input costs went up, to pass that on to consumers. [But] had they only passed on those increases, inflation would have been maybe one to three points lower.”

January 22, 2024 The Independent

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Biden advisers brainstorm best policy pitch to halt Trump’s rise

“Tell folks how you’ll give them even more economic security if you have four more years. That’s the job he has now,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning think tank. “If sentiment is trending upwards, then that’s a wonderful opportunity to offer a vision for what even more economic security looks like in four more years.”

January 20, 2024 The Washington Post

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Report Claims Inflation Woes Driven Largely By Corporate Greed

The Groundwork Collaborative’s report, first reported by The Guardian, says that corporate profits are behind 53% of inflation over the second and third quarters of 2023. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report’s authors noted, “virtually every company in every industry faced rising costs to make products and stock shelves.”

January 20, 2024 Huffington Post

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‘Greedflation’ caused more than half of last year’s inflation surge, study finds, as corporate profits remain at all-time highs

But after falling from its blistering pace in 2022, consumer inflation has gotten stubbornly stuck in the 3% range—rising unexpectedly for the last two months even as wholesalers’ prices stay flat or fall. That is greedflation’s music, offering a clear bit of evidence that excessive profit-taking is happening above the raw cost of goods.

January 20, 2024 Fortune

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Corporate profits account for half of US inflation: Report

In a startling revelation, the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive think tank, has attributed roughly 53% of the inflation experienced in the United States in Q2 and Q3 of 2023 to the burgeoning profit margins of corporations. This report, highlighted by The Guardian and discussed on MSNBC, suggests that despite a relaxation in costs, corporations have sustained high prices, unduly burdening consumers.

January 20, 2024 News Nation

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Unveiling inflation’s true culprit: corporate profits over people

"Groundwork’s scrutiny of corporate earnings reports from 2021 onwards highlights a startling trend: a substantial portion of price increases was driven by profit motives rather than rising business costs. This shift marks a departure from the historical norm, where profits contributed far less to price growth. The analysis underscores the extent to which corporate profit-seeking behaviors have influenced recent inflation trends."

January 19, 2024 Nation of Change

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Economic vibes are finally improving, consumer sentiment surges

“There is still a debate on the Internet about whether consumer sentiment is actually good, and we should listen to families who say they’re struggling. But I think it’s clearly getting better and we’re on a pretty good path for November,” said Elizabeth Pancotti, strategic adviser at the Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning think tank.

January 19, 2024 The Washington Post

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Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds

A new report by Groundwork Collaborative claims “resounding evidence” shows that high corporate profits are a main driver of ongoing inflation, and companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop. The report found corporate profits accounted for about 53% of inflation during last year’s second and third quarters. Profits drove just 11% of price growth in the 40 years prior to the pandemic.

January 19, 2024 The Guardian

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Corporate Greed Is Driving Recent Inflation, Report Finds

“While prices for consumers have risen by 3.4 percent over the past year, input costs for producers have risen by just 1 percent,” the authors write. They [Groundwork] argue that corporate profits drove more than 53 percent of inflation in the second and third quarters of 2023, whereas they drove 11 percent of price growth in the 40 years prior to the pandemic.

January 19, 2024 Daily Beast