Katie Porter - What Is Causing Inflation?

[Cheerful Charlie]

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

Watch: Chart-armed Katie Porter proves that corporate greed is behind inflation

During a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, United States Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-California) grilled Mike Konczal, the director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, over the primary cause of inflation in the post-COVID-19 economy.

www.alternet.org

 

[fromderinside]

Seems pretty clear to me.

Russia cutoff Europe from oil and natural gas. US retaliated by embargoing Russian products, monetary access, oil, and gas in defense of both Ukraine and European Union. As a result shortages increased to levels above what they were during Covid crisis.

By so doing American consumers blamed party in power rather than bad actor Russia. Fairweather patriot Republicans are now profiting from our courageous actions by blaming government rather than Russia for inflation.

Wod. Republicans will probably gain because they are fair weather patriots profiting from strong government responses to bad actor.

Fuck off Republicans. Apparently you'd rather have Ukraine fall to Russia and Europe be subjugated by Russia rather than pay a few dollars more for stuff in defense of western democracies.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Seems pretty clear to me.

Russia cutoff Europe from oil and natural gas. US retaliated by embargoing Russian products, monetary access, oil, and gas in defense of both Ukraine and European Union. As a result shortages increased to levels above what they were during Covid crisis.

By so doing American consumers blamed party in power rather than bad actor Russia. Fairweather patriot Republicans are now profiting from our courageous actions by blaming government rather than Russia for inflation.

Wod. Republicans will probably gain because they are fair weather patriots profiting from strong government responses to bad actor.

Fuck off Republicans. Apparently you'd rather have Ukraine fall to Russia and Europe be subjugated by Russia rather than pay a few dollars more for stuff in defense of western democracies.

WRONG. Inflation is high in the US because Biden has stopped oil companies from drilling and taxes are too high. Republicans will fix this through tax cuts, drilling more, investigating Hunter, and encouraging god-fearing Americans to take back our country.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Seems pretty clear to me.

Russia cutoff Europe from oil and natural gas. US retaliated by embargoing Russian products, monetary access, oil, and gas in defense of both Ukraine and European Union. As a result shortages increased to levels above what they were during Covid crisis.

By so doing American consumers blamed party in power rather than bad actor Russia. Fairweather patriot Republicans are now profiting from our courageous actions by blaming government rather than Russia for inflation.

Wod. Republicans will probably gain because they are fair weather patriots profiting from strong government responses to bad actor.

Fuck off Republicans. Apparently you'd rather have Ukraine fall to Russia and Europe be subjugated by Russia rather than pay a few dollars more for stuff in defense of western democracies.

WRONG. Inflation is high in the US because Biden has stopped oil companies from drilling and taxes are too high. Republicans will fix this through tax cuts, drilling more, investigating Hunter, and encouraging god-fearing Americans to take back our country.

NUH-UH. Katie is spot on. She is the sunlight that sooner or later, one of these fucking days is going to start disinfecting. Just you wait and see. It's gonna happen. I just know it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Seems pretty clear to me.

Russia cutoff Europe from oil and natural gas. US retaliated by embargoing Russian products, monetary access, oil, and gas in defense of both Ukraine and European Union. As a result shortages increased to levels above what they were during Covid crisis.

By so doing American consumers blamed party in power rather than bad actor Russia. Fairweather patriot Republicans are now profiting from our courageous actions by blaming government rather than Russia for inflation.

Wod. Republicans will probably gain because they are fair weather patriots profiting from strong government responses to bad actor.

Fuck off Republicans. Apparently you'd rather have Ukraine fall to Russia and Europe be subjugated by Russia rather than pay a few dollars more for stuff in defense of western democracies.

WRONG. Inflation is high in the US because Biden has stopped oil companies from drilling and taxes are too high. Republicans will fix this through tax cuts, drilling more, investigating Hunter, and encouraging god-fearing Americans to take back our country.

*salutes American flag*

LAPTOP! LAPTOP! LAPTOP! LAPTOP!

 

[Swammerdami]

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

... Porter grilled Mike Konczal ...

I don't think she had to "grill" very hard — I'll guess he prepped her on what questions to ask! Konczal may be an expert economist (he co-authored a book with Joseph Stiglitz) but definitely comes from the leftish side of the aisle. Here's an interesting opinion he posted at N.Y. Times 16 months ago.

Seems pretty clear to me. Russia cutoff Europe from oil and natural gas....

Fuck off Republicans. Apparently you'd rather have Ukraine fall to Russia and Europe be subjugated by Russia rather than pay a few dollars more for stuff in defense of western democracies.

Calling inflation or other present-day economic conundrums "pretty clear" might be an exaggeration.

Stocks were already over-priced with a big debt bubble looming ominously. Covid and Inflation dealt a big double whammy. And then comes the biggest war in Europe of our lifetimes. Didn't all the smart folk sell stocks in 2022? It may not be too late to sell!
My own excuses: (a) my investments were already very conservative, (b) I did take some baby-steps in the right direction, (c) tax consequences.

 

[Swammerdami]

Here is a 12-page pdf paper by Mike Konczal arguing that much inflation is caused by price hikes from powerful corporations. Far from struggling in the face of rising costs, they are setting profit records while also setting record pricing margins.

Here's one paragraph from the paper:

A third explanation argues that market power has been a driver of overall price increases, as the interaction
of demand and supply changes have given firms, especially dominant ones, more power and discretion to
set upward pricing strategies during the shifting demand and supply dynamics of the recovery. The more
concentrated the economy is, the more ability the dominant firms have to turn pandemics shocks into higher
prices (Bräuning, Fillat, and Joaquim 2022). In the tax incidence literature, which analyzes who ultimately
bears cost increases between firms and consumers, the idea of “over-shifting,” or a pass-through rate of over
100 percent for costs, is both present in the latest models and seen in the empirical evidence.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

... Porter grilled Mike Konczal ...

I don't think she had to "grill" very hard — I'll guess he prepped her on what questions to ask! Konczal may be an expert economist (he co-authored a book with Joseph Stiglitz) but definitely comes from the leftish side of the aisle. Here's an interesting opinion he posted at N.Y. Times 16 months ago.

Seems pretty clear to me. Russia cutoff Europe from oil and natural gas....

Fuck off Republicans. Apparently you'd rather have Ukraine fall to Russia and Europe be subjugated by Russia rather than pay a few dollars more for stuff in defense of western democracies.

Calling inflation or other present-day economic conundrums "pretty clear" might be an exaggeration.

Stocks were already over-priced with a big debt bubble looming ominously. Covid and Inflation dealt a big double whammy. And then comes the biggest war in Europe of our lifetimes. Didn't all the smart folk sell stocks in 2022? It may not be too late to sell!
My own excuses: (a) my investments were already very conservative, (b) I did take some baby-steps in the right direction, (c) tax consequences.

Nope. I'm holding and buying. Today is a great buying opportunity. I'm thinking that the economy will rebound quicker than anticipated. If not, I'll just delay retiring a little. I never sell in down market.

 

[ZiprHead]

Here is a 12-page pdf paper by Mike Konczal arguing that much inflation is caused by price hikes from powerful corporations. Far from struggling in the face of rising costs, they are setting profit records while also setting record pricing margins.

Here's one paragraph from the paper:

A third explanation argues that market power has been a driver of overall price increases, as the interaction
of demand and supply changes have given firms, especially dominant ones, more power and discretion to
set upward pricing strategies during the shifting demand and supply dynamics of the recovery. The more
concentrated the economy is, the more ability the dominant firms have to turn pandemics shocks into higher
prices (Bräuning, Fillat, and Joaquim 2022). In the tax incidence literature, which analyzes who ultimately
bears cost increases between firms and consumers, the idea of “over-shifting,” or a pass-through rate of over
100 percent for costs, is both present in the latest models and seen in the empirical evidence.

And the Republicans are helping them get away with it by blaming Biden and Democrats, basically lying to the American voter.

 

[Derec]

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

Watch: Chart-armed Katie Porter proves that corporate greed is behind inflation

During a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, United States Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-California) grilled Mike Konczal, the director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, over the primary cause of inflation in the post-COVID-19 economy.

www.alternet.org

Alternet? Really? That's your source? What, could not find anything on Counterpunch or DailyKos?

It's funny how lefties on this board dismiss certain sources but have no problem with these extremist blogs.

As far as reasons for inflation, it is hard to argue that monetary policy (interest rates too low for too long) and fiscal policy (spending trillions) did not cause inflation together with things like supply chain issues.
And yes, it was necessary to spend trillions in the wave of COVID shutting down economies worldwide, although many programs were poorly conceived and were allowed to go on too long. But the Biden administration wanted to spend additional $3.5T in inflationary spending as part of B³. Most of that would be giveaways to those who have children, especially many children, as well as tax cuts for blue state rich. Good things most of B³ was prevented. Then Biden cancelled loans for some borrowers (those who took their loans before 2010 are shit out of luck because of a technicality) which will cost the taxpayers additional $400G or $0.4T if you prefer. That too will be inflationary.

To blame corporate greed exclusively or mostly, why now? Were corporations less greedy when inflation hovered around 2% for decades?

 

[Derec]

Russia cutoff Europe from oil and natural gas. US retaliated by embargoing Russian products, monetary access, oil, and gas in defense of both Ukraine and European Union. As a result shortages increased to levels above what they were during Covid crisis.

That certainly plays a role. As does COVID spending, some of which was unnecessary or kept on for too long. As did the monetary policies of very low interest rates for most of the time since 2008 recession.
The thing is, after all this COVID spending Biden administration wanted to spend additional $3.5T in profligate spending as well as $400G on student loan forgiveness (those who took out their loans before 2010 need not apply btw.) That too is inflationary, and given the spending necessitated by COVID it was irresponsible to push it.

By so doing American consumers blamed party in power rather than bad actor Russia. Fairweather patriot Republicans are now profiting from our courageous actions by blaming government rather than Russia for inflation.

Russia should be blamed for their actions in Ukraine. And yes, the invasion did exacerbate matters. That does not mean that fiscal policies of US (and other western governments) are blameless for the inflation they are experiencing.

Wod. Republicans will probably gain because they are fair weather patriots profiting from strong government responses to bad actor.

Republicans will probably gain because president's party usually loses in the midterms, esp. if the president has low approval ratings.

 

[laughing dog]

T

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

Watch: Chart-armed Katie Porter proves that corporate greed is behind inflation

During a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, United States Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-California) grilled Mike Konczal, the director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, over the primary cause of inflation in the post-COVID-19 economy.

www.alternet.org

Alternet? Really? That's your source? What, could not find anything on Counterpunch or DailyKos?

It's funny how lefties on this board dismiss certain sources but have no problem with these extremist blogs.

As far as reasons for inflation, it is hard to argue that monetary policy (interest rates too low for too long) and fiscal policy (spending trillions) did not cause inflation together with things like supply chain issues.
And yes, it was necessary to spend trillions in the wave of COVID shutting down economies worldwide, although many programs were poorly conceived and were allowed to go on too long. But the Biden administration wanted to spend additional $3.5T in inflationary spending as part of B³. Most of that would be giveaways to those who have children, especially many children, as well as tax cuts for blue state rich. Good things most of B³ was prevented. Then Biden cancelled loans for some borrowers (those who took their loans before 2010 are shit out of luck because of a technicality) which will cost the taxpayers additional $400G or $0.4T if you prefer. That too will be inflationary.

To blame corporate greed exclusively or mostly, why now? Were corporations less greedy when inflation hovered around 2% for decades?

Big business was not necessarily less greedy but it was less concentrated. In many sectors, there are significantly fewer domestic competitors and less competition tends to give business more freedom with pricing. I suspect the effects of supply chain problems along with expansionary policy were exacerbated by less domestic competition in the US markets.

 

[Derec]

Big business was not necessarily less greedy but it was less concentrated. In many sectors, there are significantly fewer domestic competitors and less competition tends to give business more freedom with pricing. I suspect the effects of supply chain problems along with expansionary policy were exacerbated by less domestic competition in the US markets.

Are there really significantly fewer competitors now than say 10 years ago? If so, in what sectors? We certainly have a lot of grocery store companies, chains (Publix, Kroger, Walmart are very active here, and there are smaller chains like Piggly Wiggly and H-Mart) as well as independent large (Your DeKalb Farmers' Market in Decatur for example) and small grocery stores (e.g. David's Produce on LaVista for vegetables or Spotted Trotter on Moreland for meat or Kathleen's Catch on Clairmont (and two other locations) for fish). And yet, groceries exhibit a great deal of inflation. There are also a number of car companies, domestic as well as foreign, but cars have become expensive as fuck. So we know that lack of competition can't be the only, or even dominant reason for the level of inflation we are seeing. Fiscal and monetary policies, as well as shocks like COVID and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, remain the primary drivers of inflation as far as I can see.

And in sectors with little competition, proper government policy would be to reduce any artificial barriers to entry for competitors. Note that often, barriers to entry are not artificial. It takes a lot of capital to create a car company (which is why Tesla was such a big deal), or to build a refinery. But government could make it easier by removing onerous regulation that make things more difficult than necessary. What does Katie Porter suggest we do to address competition?

 

[RVonse]

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

Watch: Chart-armed Katie Porter proves that corporate greed is behind inflation

During a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, United States Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-California) grilled Mike Konczal, the director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, over the primary cause of inflation in the post-COVID-19 economy.

www.alternet.org

Alternet? Really? That's your source? What, could not find anything on Counterpunch or DailyKos?

It's funny how lefties on this board dismiss certain sources but have no problem with these extremist blogs.

As far as reasons for inflation, it is hard to argue that monetary policy (interest rates too low for too long) and fiscal policy (spending trillions) did not cause inflation together with things like supply chain issues.
And yes, it was necessary to spend trillions in the wave of COVID shutting down economies worldwide, although many programs were poorly conceived and were allowed to go on too long. But the Biden administration wanted to spend additional $3.5T in inflationary spending as part of B³. Most of that would be giveaways to those who have children, especially many children, as well as tax cuts for blue state rich. Good things most of B³ was prevented. Then Biden cancelled loans for some borrowers (those who took their loans before 2010 are shit out of luck because of a technicality) which will cost the taxpayers additional $400G or $0.4T if you prefer. That too will be inflationary.

All of this.

But most important of all (and always overlooked) is that the baby boomers are leaving the workforce en mass right now. And no matter what or how the fed thinks it can financially engineer the macro economy, you just can not take away all that productivity (highly skilled work being done by very experienced boomers) and still expect prices to be stable when there is still the same amount of paper (fiat currency) chasing less goods that are being produced.

I would not expect inflation to improve anytime soon either. The youngest boomers were born in 1964 so there are still many highly productive workers that are yet to leave.

 

[zorq]

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

Watch: Chart-armed Katie Porter proves that corporate greed is behind inflation

During a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, United States Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-California) grilled Mike Konczal, the director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, over the primary cause of inflation in the post-COVID-19 economy.

www.alternet.org

Alternet? Really? That's your source? What, could not find anything on Counterpunch or DailyKos?

It's funny how lefties on this board dismiss certain sources but have no problem with these extremist blogs.

This isn't some extremist media produced survey on whether R's or D's are more likely to be sexual predators. This is an article publishing portions of a transcript of an exchange of a US House Committee meeting. Unless you are accusing the Alternet of altering the text of the transcript to fit, I think your objection here is silly.

As far as reasons for inflation, it is hard to argue that monetary policy (interest rates too low for too long) and fiscal policy (spending trillions) did not cause inflation together with things like supply chain issues.
And yes, it was necessary to spend trillions in the wave of COVID shutting down economies worldwide, although many programs were poorly conceived and were allowed to go on too long. But the Biden administration wanted to spend additional $3.5T in inflationary spending as part of B³. Most of that would be giveaways to those who have children, especially many children, as well as tax cuts for blue state rich. Good things most of B³ was prevented. Then Biden cancelled loans for some borrowers (those who took their loans before 2010 are shit out of luck because of a technicality) which will cost the taxpayers additional $400G or $0.4T if you prefer. That too will be inflationary.

To blame corporate greed exclusively or mostly, why now? Were corporations less greedy when inflation hovered around 2% for decades?

To understand blaming corporate greed, you just have to follow the money. Duh.

To be specific, you have to actually look at the price increases corporations have implemented and then compare those to the expense increases and corporate profit increases that the corporations are publishing. You know, exactly what Katie Porter's chart does. And you can see that 54% of the price increases are going to the corporate profits column, while before only 11.4% of price increases went into that column.

This isn't difficult.

Please also note that it is perfectly okay for companies to not INCREASE their profits, and instead have no increases in profits or have mild decreases in profits and still remain profitable. Paying out executives and shareholders slices of the pie that are perpetually increasing isn't actually great for the economy. Increasing the slice that workers take home is often a much better alternative. America's status as an economic and intellectual powerhouse comes from the strength of its middle class.

What I'm saying is just because the baseline since 1979 has been 11.4% doesn't mean that it is the only healthy number. 0% could be just as good or better if that means that employees are getting a bigger slice of the pie.

 

[Swammerdami]

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

Alternet? Really? That's your source? What, could not find anything on Counterpunch or DailyKos?

So, Alternet publishes leftish stories? Give yourself a Big Brownie Point for knowing that.
More important is: Are their stories — or rather this story in particular — factually correct? If you think not, post some examples of their falsities.

In fact, it is the news sources of your ilk that are wont to publish blatant lies. Do not confuse the right with the left and pretend that since the sources that preach to your ilk indulge in constant lying, the left does also.

Attacking the messenger, when the message is true, is unbecoming. Find a factual flaw in the story, or retract your nasty non sequitur, please.

Big business was not necessarily less greedy but it was less concentrated. In many sectors, there are significantly fewer domestic competitors and less competition tends to give business more freedom with pricing. I suspect the effects of supply chain problems along with expansionary policy were exacerbated by less domestic competition in the US markets.

Are there really significantly fewer competitors now than say 10 years ago? . . .

I guess you couldn't bring yourself to actually read the cites provided. It was because of the various repricings already underway due to Covid disruptions that big corporations had the opportunity for repricings, pretending them due to rising costs but in fact acting on their "fiduciary responsibility" to maximize shareholder value.

Elsewhere in the thread, you seem to deny the enormous monopoly or oligopoly power that many of today's corporations have. That's too HUGE an ignorance to fight in this thread. Start a new thread for that.

Hope this helps.

 

[Elixir]

too HUGE an ignorance to fight

… is the ONLY stock in trade for the RW.
Ignorance of the Constitution makes 1/6 rioters into war heroes, ignorance of the law makes their Mango Monarch into a living God, ignorance of statistics makes them eager victims of fearmongering….

Just like evil financial institutions that are “too big to fail”, the ignorance of conservotards is too big to fight.

 

[ZiprHead]

Katie Porter Strikes Again!

Watch: Chart-armed Katie Porter proves that corporate greed is behind inflation

During a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, United States Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-California) grilled Mike Konczal, the director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, over the primary cause of inflation in the post-COVID-19 economy.

www.alternet.org

Alternet? Really? That's your source? What, could not find anything on Counterpunch or DailyKos?

It's funny how lefties on this board dismiss certain sources but have no problem with these extremist blogs.

As far as reasons for inflation, it is hard to argue that monetary policy (interest rates too low for too long) and fiscal policy (spending trillions) did not cause inflation together with things like supply chain issues.
And yes, it was necessary to spend trillions in the wave of COVID shutting down economies worldwide, although many programs were poorly conceived and were allowed to go on too long. But the Biden administration wanted to spend additional $3.5T in inflationary spending as part of B³. Most of that would be giveaways to those who have children, especially many children, as well as tax cuts for blue state rich. Good things most of B³ was prevented. Then Biden cancelled loans for some borrowers (those who took their loans before 2010 are shit out of luck because of a technicality) which will cost the taxpayers additional $400G or $0.4T if you prefer. That too will be inflationary.

To blame corporate greed exclusively or mostly, why now? Were corporations less greedy when inflation hovered around 2% for decades?

That seems very much to be an argument from incredulity.

 

[ZiprHead]

Big business was not necessarily less greedy but it was less concentrated. In many sectors, there are significantly fewer domestic competitors and less competition tends to give business more freedom with pricing. I suspect the effects of supply chain problems along with expansionary policy were exacerbated by less domestic competition in the US markets.

Are there really significantly fewer competitors now than say 10 years ago? If so, in what sectors? We certainly have a lot of grocery store companies, chains (Publix, Kroger, Walmart are very active here, and there are smaller chains like Piggly Wiggly and H-Mart) as well as independent large (Your DeKalb Farmers' Market in Decatur for example) and small grocery stores (e.g. David's Produce on LaVista for vegetables or Spotted Trotter on Moreland for meat or Kathleen's Catch on Clairmont (and two other locations) for fish). And yet, groceries exhibit a great deal of inflation. There are also a number of car companies, domestic as well as foreign, but cars have become expensive as fuck. So we know that lack of competition can't be the only, or even dominant reason for the level of inflation we are seeing. Fiscal and monetary policies, as well as shocks like COVID and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, remain the primary drivers of inflation as far as I can see.

And in sectors with little competition, proper government policy would be to reduce any artificial barriers to entry for competitors. Note that often, barriers to entry are not artificial. It takes a lot of capital to create a car company (which is why Tesla was such a big deal), or to build a refinery. But government could make it easier by removing onerous regulation that make things more difficult than necessary. What does Katie Porter suggest we do to address competition?

This ditectly addresses your questions.


And by the way...

The Kroger Co. Family of Stores includes:

• Baker’s
• City Market
• Dillons
• Food 4 Less
• Foods Co
• Fred Meyer
• Fry’s
• Gerbes
• Jay C Food Store
• King Soopers
• Kroger
• Mariano’s
• Metro Market
• Pay-Less Super Markets
• Pick’n Save
• QFC
• Ralphs
• Ruler
• Smith’s Food and Drug

 

[Gospel]

None of this is upsetting. My outrage is reserved for this guy.