Inflation is especially cruel when wealthy Americans and big business aren’t paying their fair share after the big bonanza of former President Trump and congressional Republicans gifted them in 2017. But low- and middle-income families can’t cut back when all their spending is for the basic necessities of life like food for their families and gas to get back and forth to work. Wealthy people can cut back spending for luxury items when prices increase dramatically. Inflation is the cruelest tax because it causes much more pain to people at the low end of the financial totem pole than it does to the privileged at the top. The pandemic put most people in a tight financial squeeze, but it was a great year for the giant ExxonMobil which enjoyed a $ 23 billion profit last year. Gasoline prices rose dramatically by 40 percent last year, so it was hardly surprising that the oil company behemoths recorded astronomical earnings.
#Greed corp launch in window drivers#
While drivers stared in disbelief as the price at the gas pump ticked higher and higher, big oil enjoyed record profits. Gas pump sticker shock is the biggest culprit in the disparity between the fortunes of big corporations and plight of ordinary Americans. Aggressive government intervention, not laissez faire economics, is necessary to eliminate the stranglehold that Wall Street has used to choke off mobility for the poor and middle class for the last generation. We won’t enjoy a true economic recovery until consumers do as well as big business already is. The immense gap between rising corporate profits and decrease in consumer buying power is a sure sign of an economy in decline. In the last 12 months ending in January this year, real hourly wages adjusted for inflation declined by 1.7 percent.īig businesses, in sharp contrast, hit pay dirt last year with estimated profits for S&P 500 companies rising by nearly 50 percent in 2021. The dry numbers paint a vivid portrait of corporate greed and human suffering. Big business reaped big profits while hard-working Americans wept over their declining standard of living. New reports on corporate profits and inflation demonstrate the fundamental problems in the U.S. Last year was the best of times for corporate America and the worst of times for hard-working American families.
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