As you read today's inflation report, pay close attention to what the CEOs who set prices are saying. We got our hands on the latest batch of earnings reports, and it's a doozy. They're literally bragging about hiking prices while hiding behind "inflation." The receipts...(1/7)
CEOs often speak more candidly on earnings calls (held when a new report comes out), in an effort to impress investors, by bragging about their ruthless profit-rigging schemes. It apparently doesn't occur to them that the public might find out about them! For instance... (2/7)
The company 3M, which produces N95 masks (and other things) crowed on its earnings call that “the team has done a marvelous job in driving price. Price has gone up from 0.1% to 1.4% to 2.6%." The CFO told investors, "We see that to be a tailwind." (3/7)
Tyson, one of the big 4 meat monopolies Biden is targeting for price-fixing saw profits nearly DOUBLE after price hikes of 32% on beef and 20% on chicken which the CEO attributed to the "continued resilience of our multi-protein portfolio." (4/7) reuters.com/business/retai…
In its 4th quarter report, Johnson & Johnson revealed it raised prices…despite raking in billions from COVID vaccine sales. Its CEO told investors that the need for medical care & to “address suffering and death” is part of J&J's “optimism” & “opportunity” for its future. (5/7)
Kimberly Clark is a mega-corporation manufacturing everything from paper towels to diapers. On its recent earnings call, CEO Mike Hsu crowed to investors about “multiple rounds” of “significant pricing actions” & admitted he plans to continue doing it throughout the year. (6/7)
If you want to understand the role of corporate greed in price hikes & inflation in America today, you don't have to take the word of watchdogs or critics of corporations. CEO's are admitting it themselves in plain daylight.
And they're betting they can get away with it. (END)
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By merging search history, conversational AI, and retailer data, their new 'Universal Commerce Protocol' could create the ultimate surveillance pricing squeeze. But instead of national security, the goal is extracting 'maximum lifetime value' from you, the consumer. Here is how the dragnet works in six simple steps. 1/8
Step 1. Profile you. Google's new Universal Commerce Protocol lets AI agents access your retailer accounts. The spec explicitly allows businesses to grant 'additional permissions beyond those explicitly requested.' Consent to checkout could mean access to your purchase history, loyalty data, or even the enriched profiles retailers build with the help of third-party data brokers. 2/8
Step 2. Pull the wool over your eyes. Google says scope complexity should be 'hidden' in the consent screen. So instead of granular details on what's being shared, users just get one general 'Allow [platform] to manage checkout sessions.' You won't know what you're actually agreeing to or what the retailer is actually sharing about you or your money. 3/8
Right now, Instacart is quietly running experiments on millions of us while we shop for groceries online. They are trying to figure out exactly how much they can get away with charging you for breakfast cereal, lunch meat, pasta, and everything in between. How do I know? 1/9
The @Groundwork team, @KatieJWells, and I teamed up with @ConsumerReports & @MorePerfectUS to recruit more than 400 secret shoppers. We asked them to buy the exact same basket of groceries, from the exact same store, at the exact same time. You won’t believe what we found. 2/9
@Groundwork @KatieJWells @ConsumerReports @MorePerfectUS Instacart charged shoppers different prices for about 75% of the items in the basket–sometimes they charged as much as 23% more for the exact same item. Using Instacart’s own estimates, we find that the Instacart tax could cost households as much as $1200 a year. 3/9
I'm headed to the @NatlEconClub later to hear @POTUS give a speech about the progress we've made on the economy. He deserves a lot of credit for this but especially for NEVER entertaining the dangerous position that you had to torch the labor market to bring down prices. 🧵1/8
This wasn't easy--the critics were loud, self-assured, condescending, and everywhere. It was academic economists, wonks, and Wall Street analyst types like @AB_insights who said that "It is going to take a meaningful weakening of the labor market to bring inflation to heel." 2/8
People like @LHSummers even took a break from their vacation to appear on television and let Americans know that in order to bring down inflation, the workers serving his Rum Runners would need to lace up their Nikes and head to the unemployment line. He even ran the numbers: 3/8
🧵Ok I'm someone who has followed the @RealPage price fixing conspiracy in the rental market closely, but this weekend I read the full @TheJusticeDept complaint and my jaw hit the floor. This was flagrant, far reaching and deliberate. Let's dig in. 1/7 justice.gov/opa/pr/justice…
First, this wasn't just a computer program spitting out high prices (though it def does that too!), the human scale is tremendous and includes a) in person "user groups" between competitors (giant corporate landlords) to swap info and hear lectures on how to "push up pricing" 2/7
b) "pricing advisors" who ensure landlords are taking the high prices the computer spits out and escalates cases where landlords aren't obeying the machine (i.e., charging too little) and then calls them into the principal's office to give them a "refresher on goals." 3/7
🧵Price gouging, price fixing, & plain old profiteering are rampant in the food and grocery sector. @VP is exactly right to focus on this in her first 100 days. There are too many examples for one thread but let's hit some of the worse offenders. 1/8 nytimes.com/2024/08/14/bus…
There are only 4 big meatpackers in this country and boy do they play dirty. One of them, JBS, is run by two brothers that did a stint in prison for bribery. Their price fixing is costing you at the checkout line but they are worth billions. 2/8 startribune.com/brazilian-brot…
When so few companies have so much power, they can easily form a cartel & gouge you on meat prices--and that's what has happened here, w/ the help of a data company called AgriStats, which @VP and Joe Biden's DOJ are currently suing. 3/8 justice.gov/opa/pr/justice…
Today the @linakhanFTC & @FTC launched an inquiry into personalized pricing, the latest frontier in price gouging. A personalized price might sound nice, but it is actually a 3-part corporate strategy to spy on you, isolate you, & overcharge you. A 🧵1/6 ftc.gov/news-events/ne…
1. Personalized pricing starts by spying on you, which is why @ZephyrTeachout is right to call it surveillance pricing. In order to figure out how much money they can take from your wallet, companies first need to take a peek inside. Is it pay day? Great, you are flush! 2/6
Phone battery low? Good, you'll need that Uber ASAP & will surely eat the surge price. Are you pregnant? Time to juice the price of ginger ale. As @ddayen explains, there's now a cottage industry of pricing consultants to help companies with this. 3/6 prospect.org/economy/2024-0…