Swammerdami
Squadron Leader
What’s bizarre about the “inflation is caused by corporate profits” mantra is how new it is. Cannot recall a time prior when anyone thought that. Inflation had been under control for decades, times during which oil companies and others had huge profits. I guess when the ruling party can’t defend its terrible governance it’s gotta conjure new bullshit.Correlation does not imply causation.
Perhaps the "bizarre" comments are motivated by — gasp! — the ACTUAL DATA. Here are corporate profits as a percentage of GDP. They barely nosed above 8% during Carter's term (was this also corporations taking advantage of inflation?), and averaged less than 6% during the Clinton Boom. But then profits soared during the first Bush-43 recession and in the pro-bank aftermath of his second, great recession. They retreated to 9% by 2020 but during the recent inflationary epoch have soared all the way to 12% and set a record.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the total pie will always be 100% exactly. The bigger share of the pie that goes to corporate profits, the smaller the cut for wages and salaries.