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Inflation is in the headlines again, and the media is still leaving out one of the biggest factors [1]
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Date: 2022-10-25
Here’s a timely example of how price increases are linked to corporate profits from Warren Gunnels, the majority staff director for Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders:
x Halloween Candy Prices
Twix:⬆️53%
Skittles:⬆️41%
Starburst:⬆️30%
Snickers:⬆️12%
M&M's:⬆️12%
Wealth During Pandemic
Mars Candy Family:⬆️44% to $106.8 billion
GOP Plan to Repeal Estate Tax Would Give:
Mars Family: $42.7 billion Tax Break
Yes. Corporate greed is frightening. — Warren Gunnels (@GunnelsWarren) October 22, 2022
If those increases seem hard to believe, Gunnels has receipts, and I don’t mean an anecdote about how much he personally paid for a Twix.
Gunnels’ boss had another example, one that is constantly relevant to many people:
x Tired of paying $4, $5, $6 a gallon for gas. Here's why:
2nd Quarter Profits
Exxon Mobil:⬆️280% to $17.9 billion
Chevron:⬆️277% to $11.6 billion
Conoco:⬆️146% to $5.1 billion
End corporate greed. Enact a windfall profits tax. Redistribute the revenue to working class commuters. — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 24, 2022
Gas prices have dropped significantly since their June high, but they remain a concern for lots of people—and again, we’re not seeing a lot of talk about profits in media coverage of gas prices. Sanders’ windfall tax proposal would “would impose a 95 percent tax on the windfall profits of corporations with more than $500 million in annual revenue,” according to a fact sheet from his office. “Windfall profits would be determined by each company’s average profits during the five years preceding the pandemic. Because the tax is on profit and not revenue, companies that raise prices to account for rising expenses would not be penalized. However, companies that have chosen to raise prices in the pursuit of obscene profits would face a steep penalty.”
Obviously, all Republicans and a few Democrats would never go for that, but it’s important to remember that there are alternatives to spiking prices and spiking corporate profits. Sanders’ fact sheet points out that there’s plenty of historical precedent for such a tax, from World War II right up to the 1980s.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan President Daniel Pinto became the latest extremely wealthy person to argue in favor of a recession to curb inflation—punishing average working people for the greed of his corporate buddies.
People are worried about inflation with good reason. It’s making life harder for lots of families who were already legitimately struggling, and giving some families that weren’t previously struggling new reason to be nervous. But it’s really not helpful when the media ignores one of the key drivers of the inflation that consumers are experiencing.
More Democrats need to be talking about this issue more loudly. Voters need to hear what’s really going on here—because they sure as hell aren’t going to hear it from the big corporate media.
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