Supply chains, worker wages and the price of energy has been blamed for the current bout of high inflation. But central bankers around the world are starting to clue in to something consumers have been aware of for a while — corporations just aren’t afraid to raise their prices anymore.

  • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    There is a word for it in economic and business circles, “consumer surplus”. When you have money that you could be willing, or forced, to part with business assholes call it comsumer surplus, like you have surplus money that belongs to them actually if only they could get you to give it to them.

    Take that idea and apply it to consumer necessities, like housing or food, and you can see where the squeeze is coming from. The various businesses all at once have decided your money is their money and oligopolistic practices, and weak/ or difficult to deploy regulations let them get away with it.

    • Neato@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      We should apply it the other way: Tax Surplus. There’s a lot of valuation in companies in billionaires that could be taxed better.

      • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I agree. Another economic concept is tax incidence, that is the term for who ultimately pays taxes. Conservatives like to pretend that all tax is paid by consumers, but this is a naive/trivial viewpoint because companies cannot set infinitely high prices, so tax may come from profit.

        It’s true that increased taxes don’t always see the full incidence land on profit, but alot of it does because pockets aren’t endlessly deep so prices can’t be raised to offset all tax. I believe in using windfall taxes to prevent profit driven inflation.

        • Jason2357@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          They also like to pretend they care about balanced budgets and monetary supply. Guess what? Taxes both balance the budget AND they evaporate money from circulation, reducing actual inflation. They ignore that because taxes are the ONLY lever that is progressive; where we can spread the pain equitably, asking the wealthy individuals and corporations to pay the largest share. That’s a terrible idea /s

        • dom@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Man half the population wouldn’t allow that. Call it socialism and scream about freedom.

              • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
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                1 year ago

                I think it’s important to point out that the Liberal Party is fiscally liberal, not fiscally conservative. While both philosophies think a market economy is the best economic system, a fiscal liberal is more inclined to use fiscal policy to intervene in that market economy to rectify social or economic inequalities .

                For example, a fiscal liberal will support a public health system, a public broadcaster, $10 a day childcare, and EV / electrification/greening grants.

                A fiscal conservative will be more laissez faire, and not want any of those things.

                I bring this up because by not recognizing the difference we set ourselves up to put conservatives back into power, after all , “both sides same”.

                • sik0fewl@kbin.socialOP
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                  1 year ago

                  Ya, after posting I regretted not clarifying that they are not nearly as far right as the Conservative party. They are willing to be more fiscally liberal in order to enact liberal social policies. Thanks for clarifying.

                  But they are still quite fiscally conservative when compared to Bloc or NDP.

              • Nik282000@lemmy.ca
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                1 year ago

                The liberal party and conservative parties both work for big business. Whether it’s tax cuts or importing cheap labor, the federal government isn’t interested in cracking down on corporate greed.