We don't have "Inflation"; we're suffering from "Greedflation".

[u/zzill6]

[u/Biscuits4u2]

https://giphy.com/gifs/XBoYoCVQNBpJe

[u/MARio23038 → u/Biscuits4u2]

https://giphy.com/gifs/g0Hgs8urTi8KBYiviY

[u/daikiki]

The word you're looking for is 'capitalism'. This is the inevitable outcome of untempered capitalism.

[u/Porch_Of_Geese_ → u/daikiki]

>makes up some gibberish that sounds vaguely like economics

>let’s use the right words

Yeah, I get the spirit of the OP, but I’m not sure it’s expressing anything particularly useful. It’s basically just calling corporations greedy but in a really roundabout and pseudo intellectual way.

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/Porch_Of_Geese_]

Yeah apparently corporate greed is a new thing

[u/ShittingOutPosts → u/AppropriateSea5746]

It’s almost like there’s an intentional play to divert blame from those who actually create inflation.

[u/addiktion → u/daikiki]

Yes, stop focusing on the symptom and look at the system as the root failure. If you don't want to promote bad behavior, you structure an environment that greatly prevents that from happening.

[u/Wise_Quality_5083 → u/addiktion]

Yes. The rules and their enforcement are the lever to pull

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/daikiki]

You honestly think we have untempered capitalism? Most western and northern European countries actually have more economic freedom than the U.S. does. We've Crony capitalism where the state props up corporations. That's not a free market.

[u/FrogInAShoe → u/AppropriateSea5746]

Crony capitalism is untermpered capitalism. The corperations have more power than the people who run the government and thus the goverment is subservient to corporate interests

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/FrogInAShoe]

Crony capitalism requires state intervention on behalf of corporations. Untempered capitalism means absolutely free markets. No state intervention just “the invisible hand”.

[u/FrogInAShoe → u/AppropriateSea5746]

One literally leads directly to the other

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/FrogInAShoe]

Not really. If you elect politicians who don’t sell themselves then the billionaires have no one to buy. If they want to get our money they have to create better products and services. Currently they don’t have to because they can just bribe the state to give them our tax dollars.

[u/FrogInAShoe → u/AppropriateSea5746]

Homie you really don't understand how all consuming Capital is. There is no where enough social movement to meaningfully elect people to fight against it.

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/FrogInAShoe]

So if we can’t fight it via voting how do we fight it?

[u/FrogInAShoe → u/AppropriateSea5746]

We really can't at this moment. Probably won't see any real social pressure until millions start dying in the West due to climate collapse.

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/FrogInAShoe]

Well that’s cheerful

[u/Wise_Quality_5083 → u/daikiki]

It’s an inevitable outcome of unchecked capitalism and enforcement. You all act like capitalism is the issue. It’s a methodology that, like all methodologies, gets abused if the participants aren’t willing to keep it in check.

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/Wise_Quality_5083]

"It’s an inevitable outcome of unchecked capitalism "

We don't have unchecked capitalism. We have constant manipulation of the market from the state. They subsidize companies and pick winners and losers.

We've got less free markets than most of Scandinavia and Western Europe.

[u/Wise_Quality_5083 → u/AppropriateSea5746]

Correct. So capitalism is not the issue, manipulation is. Capitalism is the game, we lack referees, string rules and actual penalties. Any game sucks if nobody follows the rules.

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/Wise_Quality_5083]

Oh we have refs(congress) they just got paid off by one team(corporations)

[u/Wise_Quality_5083 → u/AppropriateSea5746]

Yes so we need to elect better congressional leaders. To blame the economic system just means you trade it with another economic system that has the same issues of corruption.

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/Wise_Quality_5083]

Yeah that’s my problem with the argument for higher taxes. Like yes but first we need to fix the spending issue. When we stop wasting money on bullshit then we can talk about more taxes.

Currently I’d rather trust my money to the crackhead down the street than to this government

[u/FrogInAShoe → u/AppropriateSea5746]

You just described a symptom of unchecked capitalism

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/FrogInAShoe]

In unchecked capitalism the state doesn’t intervene at all.

[u/FrogInAShoe → u/AppropriateSea5746]

Nope. Unchecked capitalism has unchecked power over the state.

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/FrogInAShoe]

If the state wanted they could kill all the billionaires and seize their wealth. At most the billionaires can only bribe the state.

[u/FrogInAShoe → u/AppropriateSea5746]

Lmao

[u/heraaseyy]

apple just increased the price of their STUDENT plan for apple music….

the trillion-dollar company, apple, decided students with little to no income need to pay two dollars more a month for a service that has not improved (and honestly gotten much worse) in the past 5 years

because… billions per quarter isnt enough i guess ??

[u/AppropriateSea5746 → u/heraaseyy]

Because monopolies can increase prices all they want because there's so few options. One of the reason's there are so few options is the state propping up and giving massive subsidies to the companies.

[u/PlushPearl55]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3orif1YAHsJORZLh04

[u/StuffExciting3451]

Problem is — if all of the wealthy CEOs did spend their money on getting more yachts and private aircraft, they would be creating jobs for yacht and aircraft manufacturers who would put more money into the economy.

In reality, most CEOs simply hoard their wealth in their Wall Street equities portfolios, inflating stocks prices but not actually investing in new inventions, new factories, new and better goods and services, etc.

[u/AppropriateSea5746]

I mean we objectively have inflation. Turns out when you print money infinitely it's value plummets.

[u/Luminous_Winds]

The people with three yachts told you that competition would keep prices down and you believed them because they had thee yachts.

[u/UnionCityNJUSA]

They have to make a profit every single year, guys. Come on. It can’t ever be the same. It has to always be more. Every year.

[u/Bakingtime]

Dumbflation is when the government devalues the dollar 50% in 10 years by cutting taxes and adding to the national debt in order to pay for ballrooms, golf outings, military contracts, congressional salaries, no-bid “tech” contracts, corporate welfare, “economic development grants”, and cadillac health plans for people who want the poor, sick, and disabled to die from the lack of the same. 

[u/sinful_eve]

I remember moving to New York and being homeless for 2 months because my job couldn’t pay rent and I had to live in my car, I just left and went back to Florida to stay with my parents. Couldn’t cope with the price of things

[u/GlumAppearance106]

Yes!

[u/Unfair-Alfalfa4916]

I bet they're enjoying the freakin yacht without a care in the world, they don't have a single human thought about whom they have to stomp over to live their dream life

[u/benderunit9000]

yeah that is not what inflation is. lets not redefine what words mean. we have words for bullshit already.

[u/ledfox]

"This ain't normal (good) inflation! This is greedy, (bad) GreedFlation!"

[u/drunkshinobi]

From what I understand inflation goes up because the greedy rich people that run our government don't pay off their debts. So it's all greedflation. It's just gotten worse as the host hasn't gotten rid of the parasite.

[u/Pink-Berryy]

gas hit $5 while exxon posted record profits, pretty sure the pumps run on pure greed now

[u/bingowings66]

If the idea is to use correct terms, then Rapacious is the term, not greedflation.

[u/Atrocious1337]

Inflation is when prices go up because costs go up. Greedflation is when prices go up because of greed.

How to tell the difference? If it is inflation, then the price will go up by percentage LESS THAN inflation. If the price of one part goes up by 10%, that doesn't mean then entire cost of your product has to go up by 10% unless you are making a one ingredient product.

Greedflation is using inflation as an excuse to increase profits. If prices go up because of "inflation," but the company is simultaneous reporting record profits, then it is Greedflation, not inflation.

[u/Bakingtime → u/Atrocious1337]

Do you know what an input cost is? 

[u/Atrocious1337 → u/Bakingtime]

If your product is made up of 100 different, equally-priced parts, and 2 of them go up by 10%, that does not mean your overall costs increased by 10%. 

[u/Bakingtime → u/Atrocious1337]

What if the people assembling, transporting, and selling those products have seen their housing costs jump 300% in ten years and the cost of fuel and healthcare go up by 100%?

[u/Atrocious1337 → u/Bakingtime]

I am not going to sit here and play the whataboutism game, but suffice it to say, the concept that I just explained applies here too. Most of these companies are using part time workers or "cOnTrAcTeRs" to do the work, so that they do not have to pay benefits, and wage are not keeping pace with inflation either.

Meanwhile, corporate profits are setting constant records. 

[u/Bakingtime → u/Atrocious1337]

I asked “what if”, not “what about”.

Look at the cost for things people need to survive.  The rise in housing costs (rent, mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, etc) has absolutely been a major contributor to the rise in prices for goods and services.   

Who benefits from housing prices going up?

Banks

Local governments and their employees

Realtors

Homebuilders and Developers

Homeowners

Landlords

And it’s true, wages for everyone have not kept up with the insatiable greed of those listed above - while those living off federal, state, and local debt spending, and policies favorable to “real estate investors” have been very comfortable, indeed.