Because when supply chains got fucked up during COVID, they raised their prices for legitimate reasons, and found to their delight that people kept on buying, and In fact, because people were panic shopping, and stuck at home bored, they actually bought more.
So when things calmed down, instead of lowering prices, they continued to rise. because if they didn’t, they’d be making less profit than last quarter (which is unacceptable)
Combine that with the wage stagnation that’s been going on for decades and a housing shortage and you now have an economy where people can’t afford rent, food, or basic goods
It’s greed plus tacit coordination. If all the companies in an industry raise prices at the same time, and almost none of them defect by unilaterally lowering prices, then they can all increase prices together. One theory is that markets are too concentrated now so tacit coordination during inflationary periods are easier.
When you get fit everyone a board room table, you don’t have competition. You have an oligopoly. At the highest level of these companies, everyone knows everyone. They all go to the same events, people have moved around between the companies, and they all run in the same social circles.
Greed was always there. Such a constant does not explain why now prices are rising.
Because when supply chains got fucked up during COVID, they raised their prices for legitimate reasons, and found to their delight that people kept on buying, and In fact, because people were panic shopping, and stuck at home bored, they actually bought more.
So when things calmed down, instead of lowering prices, they continued to rise. because if they didn’t, they’d be making less profit than last quarter (which is unacceptable)
Combine that with the wage stagnation that’s been going on for decades and a housing shortage and you now have an economy where people can’t afford rent, food, or basic goods
It’s greed plus tacit coordination. If all the companies in an industry raise prices at the same time, and almost none of them defect by unilaterally lowering prices, then they can all increase prices together. One theory is that markets are too concentrated now so tacit coordination during inflationary periods are easier.
They noticed that everybody else was rising the prices and that they can get away with it.
When you get fit everyone a board room table, you don’t have competition. You have an oligopoly. At the highest level of these companies, everyone knows everyone. They all go to the same events, people have moved around between the companies, and they all run in the same social circles.
Because they can. People have more to spend, so businesses charge more.
It’s called “maximizing profit.”