OT: Easter Chocolate
- Thread starter ChiefJusticeMarshall
- Start date
Mine did something similar. Only with Wild Turkey.
I like to ask this question but I doubt anyone would be brave enough to answer:
How much would gas be if Biden lost?
Groceries?
Easter chocolate?
My answer: the exact same
I have heard people call it greedflation blaming companies, who are making record profits. Its true that Covid and supply chain problems caused inflation but people for some stupid reason thought prices were going to drop back down to pre-covid levels. Companies arent going to drop prices if people are paying those prices. If you were selling a product for $6 and then due to supply chain problems, had to raise the price to $10 and people are still paying $10 now, why would you drop it? There is demand for the product at $10. And why is their demand? Because the overall economy is outstanding. Record low unemployment. Record high wages. People cant stop buying.
This is seen perfectly in chicken wing prices at restaurants. There was the supply chain spike in chicken wing prices for a while and everyone started charging $1.50 to $2 per wing. The supply price for wings is way back down now, but most restaurants still charging $20-$25 per dozen.
And I dont blame companies one bit for gouging customers. Its supply and demand. People are paying these prices. So keep them high. We didn't hit a recession as everyone including myself expected. We're still in "good times." The economy needed a recession for prices to drop but people still just have way too much money to spend.
Who knows?? Not you nor I. That's speculation. The prices hit everything, and businesses kicked up prices to recover some of their Covid losses.
All of this to force us to stop gasoline. And the replacement system is many years behind.....getting further behind.
Speculation was the exact word I was thinking several posts above. When you verbally go to war with an industry, that industry, and markets, are going to respond.
Businesses did not kick up prices to recover from Covid. They kicked up prices because the demand is there to charge what they charge. I know you know the law of supply and demand and equilibrium pricing. That's literally Microeconomics 101. You are being far too kind to these poor Fortune 500 companies, seeing record profits year after year. These poor poor companies had a bad 2020 so they need to charge 50% more in 2021 and 2022 and 2023 and 2024 and 2025 and 2026 just to make up for a bad 6 months in 2020. No they are pricing where supply and demand meet. As they should. That's what makes Capitalism great. The market is setting their prices.
You would make a good case if credit card debt (the worst kind of debt a person can have imo) was not also at a record number and over $1 trillion. These record profits are only possible because of 1) inflation and 2) people having no self-control and not limiting their spending habits to fit their means. This is not organic growth but manufactured growth that will come with a high price when the notes get called. When that happens we will then really pay the price.
Anecdotally, I had to limit my lifestyle as my pay did not rise as high as inflation and I adjusted my lifestyle. I know many people in the same boat, some also limited their lifestyle, Many more did not limit their lifestyle and are charging on a card. Just because people are spending money does not mean, the economy is well. There will be a day of reckoning when the banks demand repayment.
Here's the problem. The "street" holds these companies to unreasonable expectations to meet or beat earnings. If they dial back, they get hammered with their share price. So is it greed or is it really the system and metrics they must abide by??
Unfortunately, I find changing jobs every 8-10 years is necessary to achieve raises large enough to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak. You stay in a company, and unless you get a really large promotion, you get your 2-4% raise (if any) and a really good year, maybe 5-6%. Whereas when I changed companies, I got 25-40% raises. Loyalty does not pay.
Your first sentence is laughable. Lots of sectors did hike prices.....travel, rentals. homes & restaurants, etc.
I made no judgment about big companies. They DID jackup prices , you even admitted it after claiming it didn't happen!! Try Cliff Notes, anything over 2 sentences crumbles your thesis.
Capitalism requires competition. if prices are artificially high.....DON'T buy.
This is one of the biggest problems with the market. It is all about how well a company performed this quarter and how they are looking going into next quarter. That is a horrible way to run a business and many of them fall into that trap of worrying too much about the here and now and not looking at the future enough. There are very few Amazon's out there where Bezo's had a long-term strategy and the market let him do his thing without the pressure of performing each quarter. He was constantly looking years down the road, and the street did not punish them for not worrying about the current and next qtr. If a bank, manufacturer, etc took that approach, they would be better off, but their current stock price would be crap and they would be vulnerable to a takeover from someone who would play the here-and-now game better.
One other thing I want to point out. Every so many years a company needs to make record profits. If they are not making record profits every 7 years or so, they are really in trouble because nothing else is staying stagnant, especially inflation. With inflation as high as it got, no wonder why all these companies are hitting it constantly.
The problem is, the stock price is not real. I mean it is obviously real, but at the end of the day it is more reflective of market performance than company performance.
My company in 2008 was one of the top 10 stock gainers on the NYSE. We got a plaque. Yay. 26 straight quarters of exceeding earnings (maybe a bit sandbagging) and when we finally missed, it was like we were going bankrupt. So.....one the day of one of our earnings reports, our best report in history, it was the same week as the 2009 crash starting with Shearson Lehman. Our stock plummeted for no reason other than all stocks plummeted. Even though we did everything the street wants you to do.
Company was incredibly shortsighted, talked a big game like it is was moving up in the Technology sector, even changed its name, but still at heart, it was associated with Big Steel. The company crashed and burned, sold off divisions and declared Chapter 11 in 2015.
I believe it. It happens all the time. Look at AT&T, they have a cash cow, but they felt they needed to be more than they are, and they almost lost it all, trying to be a media/tech/telecom company.
NTOP, you of all people should understand capitalism. No business priced products to make-up for Covid. That isnt how Capitalism works. They price where supply meets demand. Really basic stuff here, bro.
You claim they weren't playing catch up. And they did....then still are selling the raised stuff. That "excuse" is not gone. The Bidenflation costs remain. A piece of that is higher wages.
E.g., car rentals DOUBLED during the pandemic, because the traveling numbers collapsed, but the rental cars are FINANCED. Travel is 100% back, but rentals didn't get down to 2001 rates.
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