[link removed] [[link removed]]Dear John,
The latest inflation report says that prices rose 7.5 percent over the past year, the highest inflation rate in 30 years. And according to the corporate media, it’s all because of Joe Biden and government spending.
That’s hogwash.
In fact, one of the biggest drivers of inflation is something the mainstream media never talks about at all: the outsize power of corporations .
Just two companies, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark, dominate the market for household paper products like diapers and toilet paper. Four large meat-processing conglomerates control the prices of beef, pork, and poultry. And don’t get me started on Amazon and Walmart.
These companies aren’t raising prices because they have to. They’re raising prices because they can.
But the American people aren’t hearing any of this, and that’s a big, big problem. Because if the voters don’t get the real story about monopolistic power and what’s causing inflation, they won’t know what solutions to demand from their elected officials. Worse yet, they just might end up rewarding the very corporations responsible for the problem by electing a Republican majority in Congress—whose corporate campaign donations ensure they won’t break up corporate power.
Inequality Media Civic Action has launched a major public education campaign across all our platforms to make sure the American people know the truth about inflation and call out the corporate media’s misinformation. Will you chip in and help support our critical work? [[link removed]]
Make a Donation [[link removed]]If markets were truly competitive, companies would need to keep their prices down in order to prevent competitors from grabbing away customers. But greedy corporations are raising prices even as they rake in record profits.
How can this be? The answer is that they have so much market power they can artificially drive up prices with impunity.
Again: The lion’s share of the market for toilet paper is controlled by just two companies: P&G and Kimberly-Clark. So last April, when they jacked up prices, we had no choice but to pay up.
Or consider another consumer product duopoly—PepsiCo (the parent company of Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Quaker, Tropicana, and other brands), and Coca-Cola. In April, PepsiCo announced it was increasing prices. Then, just like clockwork, its only major competitor announced similar price hikes.
In every case, the companies blamed higher costs on labor, freight, and raw materials. But in every case, these companies were also recording record profits, and their CEOs were raking it in.
In other words, they're lying to you. They’re using “inflation” as an excuse to price gouge and fatten compensation packages for their executives.
Here’s the thing. Turning dry economic concepts into social media content that that people (including young folks) will actually watch is a huge task! But the brilliant creative team at Inequality Media Civic Action has figured it out—and they continue to exceed my expectations. Plus, we’ve built an online audience of more than 6.5 million followers, including a surprisingly large number of conservatives and independents. So we can reach the people we need, even as viewing habits change and attention spans get shorter, with a small team on a shoestring budget.
But as a non-profit organization, we count on donations from supporters like you to fund our operations and stay nimble in these rapidly changing times. Will you make a donation to Inequality Media Civic Action and help tell the American people the truth about inflation and corporate greed? [[link removed]]
Thanks for all you do,
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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