Companies are inherently greed driven and that’s not necessarily a bad thing when they function as a component in a properly balanced, regulated system. The issue now is that most governments are too weak and co-mingled with corporations to be able to effectively regulate.
And duopolies or tri-opolies. Most American industries are dominated by 2-3 players that own the majority of their respective markets, acquire or crush anyone who dares challenge them and use their media and lobbying arms to maintain the status quo. Land of the unfree, home of the bootlickers.
That makes total sense. I disagree maybe that being greed driven isn’t always bad, but our system is set up for that and any corporation that doesn’t focus on wealth at all costs is likely going to lose market share to one that is.
It’s gas and mortgage prices. Ban corporate ownership of single family detached homes. Electrify transportation and industrial machines to use alternative power sources.
States could also take a lot of actions, but it would mean people that own assets would get angry. Which also means the people who actually put politicians in power would be sad. So we’re not going to fix that problem, until their wealth crumbles, or everyone dies.
Legitimately, how do they fix this? Like what options are there?
When it’s a feature and not a bug, you don’t “fix” it, it is working exactly as planned.
In the first paragraph the article all but prompts the Fed to jack up interest rates, which makes borrowing money more expensive and when employers don’t borrow or spend on payroll, the result is more people lose jobs and when fewer people have money, in theory that should reduce upward demand pressure on consumer goods prices. In short, jacking up interest rates is the Fed’s way of prompting layoffs and wage cuts- by making working people poorer. They’ve been doing this very effectively to keep wages under control, so much so that even when ‘inflation’ like this is just price gouging it’s the first thing Wall Street wants to hear.
Of course, this ‘interest rates fight inflation’ mantra assumes that the inflation is really caused by too much money out there competing to buy too few goods and services, but when it’s the result of price collusion or just price gouging, it means prices for things went up and wages just went down. (and that in turn makes Wall Street fat and happy)
In the case of real estate, it’s been established that real estate commissions (and prices) have been inflated due to price collusion among realtor groups- in the case of rents, there is a lawsuit over price collusion driving rents up.
When it comes to gas prices, that’s less likely to be price gouging but it is very likely to be the consequence of supply/production decisions made with politics in mind, by people that probably stand to gain politically if voters vote against the incumbent.
This is the rights playbook. Do awful stuff, claim the other side is doing it, then flood media with fraudulent think tank studies and reports to muddy the waters.
I’m not looking to defend the right, but I don’t think any political party is responsible for greed of businesses and individuals.
My dad was lucky enough to buy a house many decades ago in an area that now is very wealthy. He explained how everyone and their mother was selling their houses in his neighborhood at the absolute bat shit insane prices that people were somehow buying at (like 1+ million for a previously 400k house) and that these people didn’t even know where to go. They were all moving into local apartment complexs to the point that the rents there hit over 6k/month. That’s not to even mention all the corporate purchases of property that drive prices even higher…
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