Category capitalism
Page 1 of 1-
The Capitalist Myth of Inflation
In my opinion, the biggest myth in capitalism is the one of inflation. This is a boogeyman that corporations use to justify their greed and relentless demand to keep revenue growing quarter over quarter. Governments try to keep this greed under control, but corporations in the post-pandemic landscape realized that they aren’t bound by governments. They realized they can charge whatever they want and in many market segments consumers would be forced to eat the increased cost. This has lead to a death spiral of greed where the only resolution would be to opt out of consumerism until companies start to panick.
Economists are celebrating the drop inflation, “correcting” the market, making things more “affordable” for consumers. Thing is, this is an outright lie; an attempt to calm a stressed consumer base. Inflation dropping doesn’t mean that the cost of goods is decreasing, it means that costs are increasing at a slower rate. But why? Looking at pre-pandemic prices to 2024 prices, many have doubled or tripled. Again, but why? They claim supply chain, or demand, or shipping costs. The supply chains have stabilized, demand has returned to a stable pre-pandemic level, shipping has eased. Wages haven’t changed substantially since 2019 nor has core costs like electricy or water.
The simple answer (with complex interactions) is greed. This isn’t greed from just one corporation or industry - it is across the entire chain. No publicly traded company wants to have a bad quarter by adjusting prices back down to pre-pandemic inflation rates, so instead they are doubling down with price increases and creating a narrative that people don’t want to spend money anymore.