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Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Did corporate greed break the supply chain? (with Rakeen Mabud)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.81.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

While many Americans struggle to make ends meet, corporate America’s 2021 profits were higher than ever. So why are corporations making more money while supply chain issues are still driving up inflation for the rest of us? The Groundwork Collaborative’s Chief Economist, Rakeen Mabud, wants you to know that the supply chain is working exactly as it was designed: for maximum profit, rather than reliably getting goods to people. And that’s the problem. Rakeen Mabud is the Chief Economist and Managing Director of Policy and Research at the Groundwork Collaborative. Twitter: @rakeen_mabud How We Broke the Supply Chain https://prospect.org/economy/how-we-broke-the-supply-chain-intro/ Corporations Raise Prices as Consumers Spend ‘With a Vengeance’ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/business/economy/price-increases-inflation.html Opinion: Larry Summers Shares the Blame for Inflation https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/opinion/larry-summers-inflation.html Inflation causing financial strain for nearly half of U.S. households, poll finds https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/02/inflation-gallup-financial-hardship/ Stock Buybacks Beat Capital Spending for Many Big Companies https://www.wsj.com/articles/stock-buybacks-beat-capital-spending-for-many-big-companies-11631611802 The stock market is punishing Walmart and Target for keeping costs low while the rest of the corporate sector prioritizes profits and makes inflation worse https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-target-keep-prices-low-corporations-prioritize-profits-inflation-worse-2021-11 Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Transcript

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0:00.0

There is no doubt that we have more of a corporate greed problem today than we have an underlying

0:07.6

inflation problem today.

0:09.0

A series of policy choices over the last 50 years have given these mega corporations

0:14.2

an incredible amount of power over our supply chains.

0:17.2

70% of low-income households reporting hardship at the same time.

0:24.7

All the biggest companies in America are reporting record profits.

0:30.7

From the home offices of civic ventures in downtown Seattle, this is PitchFork Economics,

0:37.7

with Nick Hanauer, the best place to get the truth about who gets what and why.

0:49.3

I'm Nick Hanauer, founder of Civic Ventures.

0:52.5

I'm David Goldstein, senior fellow at Civic Ventures.

1:00.2

So, Nick, I know you live in a different world.

1:02.9

I'm wondering if you've noticed the impact of inflation

1:07.3

over the past few months? Did you notice that the prices go up?

1:11.1

Do you look at prices? Do you pay your own credit card bill?

1:15.1

I don't know how that works.

1:16.3

Yeah, I have not been massively impacted by the increase in gas costs or the increase

1:23.3

of grocery costs, both because I have a lot of money, but also because I drive an electric car.

1:27.8

But, you know, I'm well aware of the dramatic increases in prices that folks are feeling.

1:35.8

And, you know, not to be glib, you know, the place that I get to see it most vividly is that

1:43.6

my wife and I are remodeling a house right now.

1:47.5

And the parts for that house come from all over the world.

1:52.1

And it has been frustrating and interesting to watch what's happened to prices

...

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