• lettruthout@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Wait… wasn’t he just giving a “press conference” about how grocery prices have gone up? If not price controls, what will hinder price gouging?

      • Thrashy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Only by giving massive amounts of no-strings-attached government money to Smithfield and ConAgra while lightly scolding them about shrinkflation can we address high grocery costs!

      • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
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        2 months ago

        He will simply tell the companies they have to lower the prices, and they will say “no way” and he will say “way”.

        Problem solved.

    • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Weren’t you paying attention? He’s not going to use price controls, he’s going to use container size controls.

      It can’t be communist if it’s big!

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      We need to De-Woke the agricultural sector. There are too many regulations. Not enough people can keep a cow in their back yard and sell milk to the neighbors.

      Retvrn to Tradition!

    • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Tax cuts for the elite. It will trickle down to cheaper groceries. Read the art of the deal already.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Did he actually say that? I just saw the dumbass holding up two sizes of tic tacs and idiotically proclaiming “tHiS iS iNfLaTioN”.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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      2 months ago

      Well, we’re still waiting for the details on that “amazing” healthcare plan him and his team lied about having when they tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, so I’m sure it’s just around the corner!

  • grte@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    Surely linking affordable groceries to communism will make affordable groceries less popular rather than communism more popular.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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      2 months ago

      Or complicit in the grift to steal more money from working americans. Or a fucking moron!

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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    2 months ago

    The reason publicly traded companies continually raise prices is the pressure from Wall Street to continually make more money than you did last month, last quarter, last year.

    Say you sell 1,000,000 hamburgers and make a 20% profit on it.

    Unless you make more money next year, selling that same 1,000,000 hamburgers, Wall Street is going to punish you. They don’t care that you’re profitable.

    You either sell more burgers or raise prices.

    • esc27@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Yeah. They treat profit like a necessary business expense or a cost, and balance their budgets around it. Which perverts a fundamental of economics.

      I’m starting to think the stock market is just a really awful bank that is sometimes also a ponzi scheme.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The stock market IS a ponzi scheme, and the embodiment or everything that’s wrong with capitalism. It encourages greed and drives enshittification. It’s a system by the wealthy, for the wealthy (like 90% of stock is owned by the richest 10%, and most of that is owned by the top 0.1%). Expectations of infinite growth on a planet with finite resources is insane.

        Most of the human population would prefer (and benefit from) less greed, less enshitification, cheaper housing, cheaper groceries, cheaper products — than the possibility to own a share of evilcorp.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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        2 months ago

        A while back, Exxon set a record for any company in a quarter and everyone was going “Wooo!” and I was like “Well, gas prices are going up then… Think about next quarter and this quarter next year…”

    • Valmond@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Or lower content, or use cheaper content, or fire people and make the people staying work 10% more for the same salary, … every year.

    • RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It is because enough people don’t bother to price shop.

      They have to turn inventory or they will quickly go broke.

      If you switch to the cheaper option they have to react. If you shrug and pay, they win.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Kamala’s plan is some sort of vague “stop price gouging,” but Trumps plan is even vaguer. His plan was to hold a press conference next to some sausages and say that his administration would lower prices. He gave even fewer specifics.

    His actual plans are project 2025.

    • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      He has no actual plans beyond “stay out of prison by going to the White House.”

      Project 2025 is the plan of all the people he’s going to appoint if he gets in.

  • LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I AGREE, instead Kamala should do what Trump did and give us all multiple stimulus checks. Like how about every month. We can call it “Universal Basic Income.”

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      2 months ago

      I should have known, when I read all the comments posted under the story I read about it earlier. Nonetheless, there is the ongoing issue wrt Palestinians and their plight.

      • DMBFFF@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        there is the ongoing issue wrt Palestinians and their plight.

        which is why we shouldn’t (totally) dump on Oliver, Stein, and West.

        • Maeve@kbin.earth
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          2 months ago

          Someone elsewhere said Blackrock is writing her economic policy but I’ve not found anything during a brief search, so I can’t verify it. If they send the URL, I’ll post it.

            • Maeve@kbin.earth
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              2 months ago

              Yes, how dare I allow anyone else who may have sources to post, or sleep? Such a horrible thing. I have the YT by this morning, but being such a horrible person, I have to attend to personal duties, before I can watch it and decide whether or not to post.

  • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Only words left in the conservative vocabulary: “Socialist” and “communist”

  • paf0@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I mean… Price control is kinda anti-capitalist, he’s not wrong.

    And no I will not vote for Donald Trump.

    • return2ozma@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      IDGAF what they call it. Lower the damn prices! Sacrifice a billionaire to the capitalist god or something.

      • DMBFFF@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Maybe $10 000 to each person per year in food stamps, and $5000 extra payment if they maintain a BMI under 25.

        • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          That just puts more money in the hands of Big Food.

          Now, if the food support was limited to only be spent on fresh or frozen vegetables and fruit, that would help the kinds of farmers that aren’t already getting subsidized.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Price control is kinda anti-capitalist, he’s not wrong.

      It’s authoritarian, but still very capitalist in function. The state is regulating the rate at which you can raise prices, not who profits from the sales.

      And no I will not vote for Donald Trump.

      I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over the decision. In the end, I predict this election will be decided 6-3.

      • paf0@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over the decision. In the end, I predict this election will be decided 6-3.

        Only if they agree to hear the case. I’m not sure ACB or Gorsuch like him as much as people think. The elections are run by the states. Unless a super close Florida Bush/Gore situation happens I doubt it will even reach the SC.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Your comment is pure denial and cope. The MAGA fascists are putting the people into place to steal Georgia’s election as we speak.

          • paf0@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I think you forget what McConnell, Pence and Kemp did to protect the republic last time. They’re not the only ones who still believe in America.

            • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              lmao, you think Mitch McConnell, Mike Pence, and Brian Kemp have patriotic values?

              DM me, I have a bridge for sale.

          • MrTomS@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            NC governor is a Democrat (and was on Harris’s short list for VP)

            While the legislature is Republican run our AG & Secretary of State are both Democrats and it will be quite difficult for Republicans to gum up the election I’m sure they will try though

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Trump openly conspired with Georgia election officials to try and flip the race. That’s a big part of the list of indictments against him.

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I need to eat every day whether it’s profitable for Jim Perdue or not. Capitalism is a terrible way to run food distribution or healthcare.

        • Lemmeenym@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          That’s what they tell us anyway. What actually breeds innovation is giving people the opportunity to explore their own talents and pursue their interests from a place of stability. Things that interfere with that include tying healthcare to employment, allowing receiving healthcare to bury someone in debt, tying public education to local income levels, allowing pursuing higher education to bury someone in debt, inadequate public mental health services, allowing the minimum income for a full time employee to be below the amount required to meet basic needs for the average family, allowing work time for a full time employee to exceed a reasonable limit that would allow the employee to spend time with children, take care of their own health, and pursue hobbies and other interests.

          • paf0@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            That’s what they tell us anyway. What actually breeds innovation is giving people the opportunity to explore their own talents and pursue their interests from a place of stability. Things that interfere with that include tying healthcare to employment, allowing receiving healthcare to bury someone in debt, tying public education to local income levels, allowing pursuing higher education to bury someone in debt, inadequate public mental health services, allowing the minimum income for a full time employee to be below the amount required to meet basic needs for the average family, allowing work time for a full time employee to exceed a reasonable limit that would allow the employee to spend time with children, take care of their own health, and pursue hobbies and other interests.

            If that was the case then there would be European companies who innovate. I can think of very few in comparison to American companies, especially in tech and medicine. (BioNTech and Spotify come to mind, struggling to think of others)

            Otherwise, what you’ve listed as things that interfere with innovation, I see more as evidence of things like modern indentured servitude and income driven inequality. All of those things are huge problems for our society and many of those things are lesser problems in a lot of European countries, but the rich people are still innovating here regardless.

    • DMBFFF@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The informed consumer is a great price control in the free market.

      This is why I don’t buy whatever crap that Trump flogs or for that matter tic tacs.

      • paf0@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The informed consumer is a great price control in the free market.

        What does that even mean? We all see prices rising.

        • DMBFFF@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Price controls could lead to shortages, which is reportedly common in Communist countries—which I’ll concede to Trump;

          however, Trump is hardly better with his flogging crap, the encouragement of stupidity, the anti-science, and the tariffs—why do Trump supporters—presumably a vast majority being consumers—support tariffs, quotas, and seem indifferent to IP (“intellectual property”) trolls and their lobbies? Why do they oppose abortion (and perhaps contraceptives) when fewer children means less need to purchase stuff?

          Perhaps price controls for basics are needed, but this is not the ideal; and if you support price controls because you favour socialism, then again, Trump is kinda right here.

          note: if I was American, I would not vote for Trump or pretty well any Republican.

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Price controls could lead to shortages

            Nope. That’s just the line the profiteers feed the most gullible of their victims so they’ll defend their corrupt practices.

            which is reportedly common in Communist countries

            You know what’s also common in nominally communist countries?

            Government corruption, wealth and power being concentrated in the hands of a few privileged people, and that privileged class tricking their victims into being their advocates.

            Exactly like capitalism in general, and especially US capitalism.

            which I’ll concede to Trump

            Well that’s just stupid and unnecessary. It’s not like he has a point or anything. he’s just throwing buzzwords at the board and seeing if any sticks

            why do Trump supporters—presumably a vast majority being consumers—support tariffs, quotas, and seem indifferent to IP (“intellectual property”) trolls and their lobbies? Why do they oppose abortion (and perhaps contraceptives) when fewer children means less need to purchase stuff?

            For the same reason that you think price controls lead to shortages and that any country calling itself communist is an accurate representative of what communism is: lots of internalized propaganda.

            Disclaimer that shouldn’t be necessary: I’m not a communist or in favor of communism. It’s far too authoritarian, inflexible, and unprepared for when the real world doesn’t correspond with theory.

            Perhaps price controls for basics are needed

            No “perhaps” about it. The profiteers have demonstrated that they will always raise prices when not forced not to, far beyond their customers’ ability to survive in the long run. It’s long past time to make social murder illegal.

            but this is not the ideal

            No, the ideal is that all companies are worker owned co-ops so that the socially good and the fiscally good are inseparable so that there’s no systemic incentive to profiteering.

            We’re not getting there within any of our lifetimes, if ever, though, so let’s focus on what is already possible and necessary: price controls.

            if you support price controls because you favour socialism

            Nah, I support price controls because they’re necessary to reduce a pandemic of standardized plundering of the poor. Call it socialism or don’t, just get that boot off my neck.

            then again, Trump is kinda right here.

            Nope. Not even kinda. He doesn’t know what communism is any more than he knows what asylum is, how to prevent forest fires, or how to deal with hurricanes.

            The man is a colossal idiot who happens to be tragically effective at self-promoting. He’s also a fascist and the poster boy for malignant narcissism.

            You do not, under any circumstances ever, have to concede ANYTHING to him as, even on the incredibly rare occasion that he’s right about literally anything, he got there by accident.

          • paf0@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            We were talking about price controls, I failed to see how any of that well known stuff is related. Spend more time focusing on your own country.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The problem is that it’s anti free market.
      You can make regulation for standards of quality and transparency, and regulation against unfair business practices and monopolies.
      These things stimulate fair competition, and help consumers make good choices. Which generally result in fair value for consumers.
      But you can’t dictate prices, it never works and it has been tried many times in many countries, and every time the result is shortage of the price regulated items.

      If the price is set so low there are no profits, the goods simply disappear from the market. Nobody wants to work for free.
      If the price is set high enough for companies to still profit, it has little or no effect in a competitive market anyway, and is unnecessary.
      It might even keep prices higher, because the industry sees it as a floor they don’t need to go under, and it works like a cartel price setting.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          A market can never be truly free, it needs to be regulated to work. Sometimes subsidies are needed to prevent possible shortages from year to year.
          Subsidies are not to promote a free market, but to secure production.

          • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            Subsidies are not to promote a free market, but to secure production.

            And price controls are not to promote a free market but to reign in corporate greed. I could absolutely not spare a moment of concern for whether they are “anti free market.”

            They have plenty of margin to work with, and the gig has been up about their “supply chain costs” excuse they started pulling during the pandemic for quite some time now.

            Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan is pushing for an inquiry into the ongoing surge in grocery prices that started during the Covid-19 pandemic and that remains a hot topic in this year’s presidential election.

            On Thursday, during a virtual public meeting hosted by the FTC and the Department of Justice, Khan said the probe would “shed light” on why prices and profits at grocery chains “remain so high even as costs appear to have come down.”

            “We want to make sure that major businesses are not exploiting their power to inflate prices for American families at the grocery store,” she said.

            Puh. They absolutely ARE and HAVE BEEN exploiting their power to inflate prices.

            Between grocery prices, fast food shenanigans, and shrinkflation, anyone with little enough disposable income to be at all conscious of prices has known for a long while that these companies have picked the pandemic as their excuse to pull in as much money hand over fist as they possibly can, all while fighting tooth and nail against wage increases to even approach the overall rate of inflation across the same period of time.

            From the first link in that para:

            TheStreet reported that Medium French Fries went from $1.79 in 2019 to $4.19 in 2024, a 134.1 percent increase. A McChicken went from $1.29 to $3.89, a 201.6 percent hike.

            The price of the beloved Big Mac increased 87.7 percent, from $3.99 to $7.49. An order of 10 McNuggets rose by 68.8 percent, from $4.49 to $7.58. Of the five popular products examined, cheeseburgers saw the largest price increase—going from $1 to $3.15, a 215 percent spike.

            These increases exceed the general average for inflation calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which shows that prices went up by about 21.5 percent between the end of 2019 and March 2024.

            From the second link in that para:

            Few details were released about the change, but Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the new menus will let the fast food chain test “more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.”

            “We expect our digital menu boards will drive immediate benefits to order accuracy, improve crew experience and sales growth from upselling and consistent merchandising execution,” Tanner said on the call.

            Surge pricing could be a “turning point” in the industry, according to Jonathan Maze, editor-in-chief of trade publication Restaurant Business. “If Wendy’s idea works, it could get others to do something similar, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another chain or two test the idea themselves, given what Wendy’s is doing.”

            Fuck you Wendy’s. You’ve been a favorite since I was 12, and I tried to ignore your decreasing quality in recent years. You are dead to me now. (Yes, I know they rolled the idea back after they heard what the announcement did to the pitchfork futures market.)

            From the third link in that para:

            Frito-Lay shrank bags of some of its Dorito’s from 9.75 ounces to 9.25 ounces. Bags in both of these sizes, as well as some 9.5-ounce bags, are currently for sale at Target for the same price. "We took just a little bit out of the bag so we can give you the same price and you can keep enjoying your chips," a Frito-Lay spokesperson told Quartz.

            Fuck you Frito-Lay, what kind of Orwellian doublethink is this?

            Anti-Free market indeed. Free market in this country no longer means anything other than unrestrained corporate greed.