Inspired by Larry Summers and his tirade against antitrust, I looked into inflation and market power. It turns out 60% of the rise in inflation is going to corporate profits. mattstoller.substack.com/p/corporate-pr…
This is the corporate profit increase from 2019 to 2021, from $1T to $1.7T, or $2,126 per American. Yes, you pay more than two thousand dollars a year more for everything than you did before the pandemic, purely because corporate profits have gone up that much.
"For every American man, woman and child in the U.S., corporate America used to make about $3,081 in 2019, and today corporate America makes about $5,207 in 2021. That’s an increase of $2,126 per person." mattstoller.substack.com/p/corporate-pr…
That means that there's an inflation rate of 3% on all goods and services going purely to corporate profits. That's ridiculous.
Inflation was at 1.8% in 2019, today it's 6.8%. That means that most of the increase in inflation is purely going to the corporate bottom line. And this is probably concentrated among big firms in concentrated industries. (ht @brian_callaci)
Inflation is a nice cover story to pad corporate profits for large firms that have market power. But it can be more insidious than that, as @HalSinger explains about the likelihood of price-fixing in concentrated markets.

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More from @matthewstoller

21 Dec 21
There's an enterprising career waiting for a business historian willing to debunk Hovenkamp's problematic historical work. He's just wrong that 19th century anti-monopoly policy was merely about gov't privilege. Ultra vires suits were the keystone.
Hovenkamp is a deeply influential pro-monopoly advocate, a sort of Diet Bork who spread a more annoying and difficult to administer version of Chicago School philosophy throughout the courts.
Here's our piece on Hovenkamp's disastrous philosophy and legacy.
Read 5 tweets
20 Dec 21
1. WSJ picks up the pharmacy walk out story. wsj.com/articles/omicr…
2. I covered it last month, talking about @BledTanoe and #PizzaIsNotWorking mattstoller.substack.com/p/pizzaisnotwo…
3. A year and a half ago, I described how CVS became a health care tyrant. mattstoller.substack.com/p/how-cvs-beca…
Read 6 tweets
20 Dec 21
1. Ok, let's talk about a different strategy for Biden and Dems, going all the way back to inauguration. Instead of seeing the election as a mandate to expand the safety with weird badly designed programs, what would a good agenda have been? Deal with Covid. What does that mean?
2. First, recognize it is an endemic disease, not a never-ending moral war no one actually believes in. Expand treatment so we can handle increased illness. How? Go after cheating in hospitals and health care. Here are dozens of GOP bills to do that. republicans-oversight.house.gov/report/comer-r…
3. The amount of waste and cheating in health care is insane - I mean nursing homes are run by near-mobsters. We're talking trillions. Highlight it. Investigate it. Attack it. Use CMS to block private equity from running hospitals, treatment centers, nursing homes, etc.
Read 10 tweets
20 Dec 21
“Manchin has also told colleagues he believes that Americans would fraudulently use the proposed paid sick leave policy, specifically saying people would feign being sick and go on hunting trips.”
I have no idea if Manchin said this nor do I care, but this is definitely the best way to play hooky.
Why did Manchin vote no? Probably because (1) he can't explain the bill to his constituents (2) he is concerned about inflation and (3) Biden is weak.

Manchin's mostly ignored demand was for an end to quantitative easing. He's been clear that inflation is his concern.
Read 4 tweets
11 Dec 21
The idea that venture capital tycoons who are deeply wired into D.C. are leading a revolution against the establishment is so tired and annoying. Just accept the responsibility for what it means to be powerful.
Hillary Clinton was offended when called her a member of the establishment, because saying you hate the establishment is a tried and true test of refusing to admit you have power and responsibility. @cdixon and the Andreessen crew share Hillary Clinton's politics.
There's a lot of good faith in the crypto world, but that there's no internal effort to get rid of the massive grifting going on by cynical financiers is a giant red flag.
Read 4 tweets
23 Nov 21
1. One institutional problem of the Dems/left is what I'll call the Lollipop Problem. We've optimized our party to offer things people like, but we do so whether people prioritize those things or not. Let's do a thought experiment on Dems, using lollipops as a stand-in.
2. 10 years ago, some progressive economists at the Fed got data from candy makers showing candy makes people happy. Then progressives set up a coalition for lollipops, which poll well, and activists at the end of the Obama era began holding signs saying "Lollipops NOW!"
3. Then Trump won the Presidency. Stories in the New Yorker and the New York Times started to come out about how Trump corrupted and controlled the traditionally bipartisan US Candy Agency. "How dare he!?!?"
Read 17 tweets

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