This story was originally published by Daily Montanan: URL: https://dailymontanan.com This story has not been altered or edited. (C) Daily Montanan. Licensed for re-distribution through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. ------------ Daines is all wrong when it comes to inflation – Daily Montanan ['More From Author', 'April', 'Jim Smith'] Date: 2022-04-18 00:00:00 In a letter to his constituency recently, Sen. Steve Daines sent an email that said, among other things, the following: Inflation under President Joe Biden’s administration continues to spiral out of control. Compared to one year ago, Montanans are paying 8.5% more on everything from gas to groceries. At the pump, it costs Montanans over 48% more to fill up their pickups than it did last year. At the grocery store, Montana families are spending over 13% more on milk, over 18% more on bacon, over 14% more for a bag of flour and 12% more on lettuce compared to a year ago. The first thing they must do is STOP spending money we don’t have. Is inflation really the fault of Biden? Of course not. Presidents have little or no control over the economy and get blamed for capitalism’s failures. Daines know this, but once again, he’s just not being honest Let’s look at facts. 2021 was the most profitable year for American corporations since 1950. Profits surged 35% last year, according to data published by the Commerce Department, driven by strong household demand, which was underwritten by government cash transfers during the pandemic. In all four quarters of the year, the overall profit margin stayed above 13%, a level reached in just one other three-month period during the past 70 years. It was a solid year for workers, too—just not in comparison to shareholders. Employee compensation rose 11%, but the so-called labor share of national income – the portion that’s paid out as wages and salaries—fell back to pre-pandemic levels. That tends to undermine the argument that soaring labor costs are what’s driving the current surge in inflation. The war in Ukraine is raising oil and gas prices world-wide. Prices of oil and gas increased sharply, with both major oil benchmarks trading at above $110. High prices are being passed over to consumers at the pump, in their gas, heating and electricity bills even though all petroleum companies are making record profits. High energy prices contribute to increased cost of virtually all goods and services further fueling inflation. A handful of giant corporations — Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, Costco and Target —dominate retail sales in America. On a recent survey, more than 60 percent of large retailers say inflation has given them the ability to raise prices beyond what’s required to offset higher costs. Food prices are soaring. Half of those price increases are from meat. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meat prices were up 16 percent compared with last year. Why? Because the four giant meat processing corporations that dominate the industry are raising their prices and enjoying fat profits. Milk producers hoped for higher milk prices in 2022. High feed prices, supply chain issues and labor shortages have impacted dairy product prices. So far, milk prices have hit their highest marks since 2014. But the cost of production has eaten away at dairy farmer’s profits. The price for a pound of romaine has lately soared a whopping 61% from a year earlier to $3.27 — the highest price since 2006, according to Bloomberg. That’s the biggest recorded price increase of any food item. In the case of lettuce and other select crops, farmers are purposely growing less because they don’t want to get stuck with excess crops given the volatility of the market. The energy price surge has made other necessity items more expensive. When you buy a dozen eggs, which cost $1.48 a year ago, it will now cost $1.79. Your pound of sliced bacon now costs a whopping $7.21 – up from $5.83 at the same time a year ago. Daines, who claims the market will solve these problems, is stuck in his ideological thinking. He isn’t feeling any of this pain. The market is being manipulated to increase profits. It’s not giving working class families more cash which is causing inflation. It’s fuel prices and supply line issues combined with corporate greed. No, Steve, what Biden should do is to continue the various programs used during the pandemic to increase family income to keep up with the rising costs of living. We have the money; we just lack the political will because of politicians like you. [END] [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/04/18/daines-is-all-wrong-when-it-comes-to-inflation/ Content is licensed through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/