Thread by @doctorow

The instant that governments rolled out #relief funds so #quarantine-shuttered firms wouldn't fail and #covid-furloughed workers wouldn't starve, execs started rubbing their forelegs together, planning to raise prices and blame #inflation caused by giving money to The Poors. 1/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2023/01/23/can… 2/

They weren't exactly subtle about it: the CEOs of America's largest companies got on their quarterly investor calls and chortled about the willingness of "consumers" to blame inflation for the price-hikes they were cramming down their throats:

pluralistic.net/2021/11/20/qui… 3/

#Republicans - happy to serve as #UsefulIdiots for #monopolists - stickered gas-pumps with Joe Biden #IDidThat stickers, even as Big Oil declared *record* profits and boasted to investors about how they were able to drill directly into drivers' wallets and blame inflation. 4/

In absolutely unrelated news, #eggs are suddenly incredibly expensive. A dozen "conventional" eggs are currently averaging $2.88, which is *double* what they cost a year ago. Supposedly, this is caused by a #SupplyChain shock (an #AvianFlu outbreak). 5/

But - this will shock you, I know - the single company that dominates the US egg industry, #CalMaineFood (AKA #CALM - ugh) is making record profits. Their Q3/22 was up 65% from the year before; Q4-22 sales were up record-smashing *110%* - $801.7m:

cnn.com/2023/01/13/bus… 6/

Egg prices have climbed month-on-month even as other prices have stabilized or fallen. 7/

In its communications to investors, Cal-Maine's eminently guillotineable CFO Max Bowman attributed the monopolist's good fortune to "significantly higher selling prices" and "our ability to adapt to inflationary market pressures." 8/

Cal-Maine's stock is up 47% from a year ago - a record high.

All of this militates for price-gouging as the factor driving record egg prices, with bird flu standing in for inflation as a handy smokescreen. 9/

But even if we stipulate that Cal-Maine has cut its margins to the bone to help out the American egg-eater amid an avian superflu, that's no reason to CALM down. 10/

Supply-chain shocks are endemic to concentrated markets. When we put all our eggs in one basket (see what I did there?) then even minor disruptions can have huge effects.

pluralistic.net/2022/02/02/its… 11/

You may think that Cal-Maine is only one of many egg companies, but that's only because it's a many-tentacled octopus of a company, having rolled up dozens of other companies, including "Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, Egg-Land’s Best and Land O’ Lakes eggs." 12/

The egg-aisle at your supermarket is just another #DuffBrewery, where all the different vats are being fed with the same sludge out of a common pipe:

simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Duff_Tour… 13/

In this regard, it's no different from the rest of the groceries elsewhere in the store. Nearly all the consumer packaged goods in your store come from one of two companies; Unilever and Procter and Gamble. 14/

If a local company does manage to eke out a success, one or the other will buy them, announcing as they do that "We know our customers value choice." 15/

But giving control over our production to a single company doesn't just deprive us of the choice to take our business elsewhere. 16/

It's an invitation to dominant firms to squeeze all the #slack out of their supply chains, stripping out all the safety margins, selling off plant and leasing it back, relocating to distant, low-tax jurisdictions. 17/

Because not all inflation is caused by price-gouging. Some is caused by too little #capacity:

pluralistic.net/2022/06/01/fac… 18/

Concentrated, financialized companies slash their payrolls, firing senior staff, declare massive dividends, then they founder when business picks up (looking at you, Southwest Air):

pluralistic.net/2023/01/16/for… 19/

Whenever this kind of thing happens, corporate ghouls, ineffectual regulators, and the lickspittle apologists who carry their water shrug and say, "What, do you expect us to spend money on resilience, or take lower profits when your cost basis shifts?" 20/

Yes. That is exactly what we should expect. And if they don't like it, we should shatter their monopolies. You can't make an omelette without breaking a some eggs. 21/