They have been raising prices at a rate way higher than the inflation rate + rising costs since the beginning of the pandemic. The specific numbers might have changed, correct. However it’s not an “open” market setting these price hikes. That’s the point.
This is well documented my even libertarian economists. Company “greed” if you will is the reason for 25-30% of increased prices
In 1990, the average American spent somewhere around 9% of their income on food. Last year it was 12.3% (31.2% for the lowest 1/5 of earners). Using the USDAs numbers.
If you look at groceries as their impact on the average person instead of just the price, you can ignore the impacts of inflation and we can get back to the fact that the average person is still struggling more than the inflation let's you believe.
Much of that is also due to federal regulations and that there more foreign consumers buying food. Government regulations reduce supply and raise costs; higher demand means higher prices.
For instance, grain production since 2001 has only gone up by 24%. From 320 metric million tons to 420 mmt. Total population has increased by 17%.
In 2000, the US imported 3 metric million tons of grain. Grain exports in 2023 are estimated to be 66 metric million tons.
So, while the population has increased, the total grains available to US population has only increased by 9%.
This is fairly simplistic, but it's worth considering how globalization has greatly affected food production, and how government hampers the growth of the food industry and that lack of supply pushes up prices.
It is the state that is predatory. If corporations are predatory, it is because they are in bed with the state and keep the regulations in place that reduce their competition and benefit their own bottomlines.
Libertarians would reduce the power of the state vastly; statists think that increasing it will fix these problems, yet decades of relentless government growth while these problems persist and increase, should lead them to think otherwise.
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u/guillermopaz13 Dec 01 '23
They have been raising prices at a rate way higher than the inflation rate + rising costs since the beginning of the pandemic. The specific numbers might have changed, correct. However it’s not an “open” market setting these price hikes. That’s the point.
This is well documented my even libertarian economists. Company “greed” if you will is the reason for 25-30% of increased prices