I think the article would be better named as "Recent US inflation driven by lack of market competitiveness". High corporate profits are just a result. I think it's also worth poking at why there's...
“This is a form of implicit collusion,” she said. “Firms do not even need to talk to one another to know that a cost shock is a great time to raise prices. But when costs fall, price-setting firms do not have any incentive to decrease prices.”
The paper zooms in on the diaper industry, of which Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark control 70% of the domestic market. Diaper prices have increased by more than 30% since 2019 from, on average, $16.50 to nearly $22.
I think the article would be better named as "Recent US inflation driven by lack of market competitiveness". High corporate profits are just a result.
I think it's also worth poking at why there's less market competitiveness. I have my own theories:
Various product markets are mature. So there are high barriers to entry:
Overcoming decades of legacy brand recognition
High product R&D costs to compete with existing products
Mature and efficient manufacturing and supply chain systems. It's likely too difficult for new entrants to build competing systems.
New entrants discover these high barriers and end up competing in niche premium markets and then get acquired.
I'd love to hear if this is wrong, but it seems like expansion of private equity ownership, vertical expansion and consolidation towards monopoly are playing a large role. I think the live...
less market competitiveness.
I'd love to hear if this is wrong, but it seems like expansion of private equity ownership, vertical expansion and consolidation towards monopoly are playing a large role. I think the live nation/ticketmaster merger is a great example. If you hold not only the monopoly on selling tickets, but also the majority of music venues and advertising (meaning it's harder to perform with an alternative system) you can dictate the terms for both patrons and artists.
Back in the early 00's, when Operation Freedom started kicking in, price of crude oil understandably jumped up. This was a momentary thing, oil returned pretty much to its usual price, but...
Back in the early 00's, when Operation Freedom started kicking in, price of crude oil understandably jumped up. This was a momentary thing, oil returned pretty much to its usual price, but gasolibe prices skyrocketed immediately and never really returned to within a hair of what they were before.
At the end of Bush's term, gas was actually about the same price as in August 2001. That was the same year that it first got close to $4 (maybe over in some places) and then it spiked up over the...
At the end of Bush's term, gas was actually about the same price as in August 2001. That was the same year that it first got close to $4 (maybe over in some places) and then it spiked up over the next year and returned to 2007 prices by the end of 2010.
Pardon? In 2001 gas was more often than not less than $1.40/gal. I was referring to roughly the start of the Iraq war, around 2003. Gas went from around $1.50/gal to $2.50 a gallon inside of a...
Pardon? In 2001 gas was more often than not less than $1.40/gal. I was referring to roughly the start of the Iraq war, around 2003. Gas went from around $1.50/gal to $2.50 a gallon inside of a year. It spiked over $4 periodically after. It wasn't until the recession kicking off in 2008 till prices dropped because the country was having an economic crisis.
I wouldn't expect it to go back down now, after decades of inflation....I was marginally shocked when I saw gas for under $3 recently.
But that spike that lead to >$2.50 gas was momentary, when the world was in a collective panic the war in Iraq was going to escalate to even more and cut off cheap oil forever. And the prices stayed up.
This is not the first time this is happened, this is only the first time that I was convious to it happening.o
Yet all of these journalists, politicians, and social media commentators tell people it is just the way it is and it would be a sign of economic distress if prices went down. It isn't distress, it...
Yet all of these journalists, politicians, and social media commentators tell people it is just the way it is and it would be a sign of economic distress if prices went down. It isn't distress, it is price gouging.
I think the article would be better named as "Recent US inflation driven by lack of market competitiveness". High corporate profits are just a result.
I think it's also worth poking at why there's less market competitiveness. I have my own theories:
I'd love to hear if this is wrong, but it seems like expansion of private equity ownership, vertical expansion and consolidation towards monopoly are playing a large role. I think the live nation/ticketmaster merger is a great example. If you hold not only the monopoly on selling tickets, but also the majority of music venues and advertising (meaning it's harder to perform with an alternative system) you can dictate the terms for both patrons and artists.
Back in the early 00's, when Operation Freedom started kicking in, price of crude oil understandably jumped up. This was a momentary thing, oil returned pretty much to its usual price, but gasolibe prices skyrocketed immediately and never really returned to within a hair of what they were before.
At the end of Bush's term, gas was actually about the same price as in August 2001. That was the same year that it first got close to $4 (maybe over in some places) and then it spiked up over the next year and returned to 2007 prices by the end of 2010.
Pardon? In 2001 gas was more often than not less than $1.40/gal. I was referring to roughly the start of the Iraq war, around 2003. Gas went from around $1.50/gal to $2.50 a gallon inside of a year. It spiked over $4 periodically after. It wasn't until the recession kicking off in 2008 till prices dropped because the country was having an economic crisis.
I wouldn't expect it to go back down now, after decades of inflation....I was marginally shocked when I saw gas for under $3 recently.
But that spike that lead to >$2.50 gas was momentary, when the world was in a collective panic the war in Iraq was going to escalate to even more and cut off cheap oil forever. And the prices stayed up.
This is not the first time this is happened, this is only the first time that I was convious to it happening.o
Yet all of these journalists, politicians, and social media commentators tell people it is just the way it is and it would be a sign of economic distress if prices went down. It isn't distress, it is price gouging.