• Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Nobody is surprised about it companies wanting more money. We’re just angry about it (the whole dark cloud thing the article is about). Nobody is out here complaining that a Lamborghini costs $20k more. It’s about housing and groceries. The record profits aren’t from introducing a new kind of egg or lowering the cost of production and distribution. The profits are from raising the prices on the same goods because people got stimulus money

    Yes, you have the technical economist definition of inflation correct. But, my dude, people are out here saying “our basic necessities like staple groceries are still more expensive even though inflation has gone down and we see that the companies producing those goods have reported their highest profits in 70 years” and you’re telling them “no, no, they’re not being greedy, it’s your fault for being willing to spend so much money on basic survival goods and that’s causing inflation”. There was no negotiating the cost of eggs and milk at the grocery store. The price was just set higher and consumers had to either pay it or starve.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Housing costs arent even companies being greedy, but homeowners.

      I honestly think people don’t even know what they’re mad at they’re just mad. This is why the real problems struggle to get fixed.

      I’m not being pedantic here - if you don’t understand the problem, you’re part of the problem, by definition. Fixing housing requires changing local zoning laws and depowering current homeowners from the ability to pull the ladder up after them to protect their investment. They will never back that en masse on their own, because they benefit.

      • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Housing costs arent even companies being greedy, but homeowners.

        Investment firms buying and holding homes are, by definition, homeowners, making them part of the problem. People who are trying to buy a home are having to get into bidding wars with investors, who are buying 1/4 homes sold in the last ~9 months.

        I honestly think people don’t even know what they’re mad at they’re just mad

        Renters looking to buy a home are mad at investors who can buy up inventory with cash (which in this context I’m including individuals buying up single-family houses to rent out, not just companies), and afford to leave the property vacant rather than accepting less profit by lowering the rent on it.

        People trying to buy groceries are mad that wages increased 4-5% in 2022 while Tyson chicken prices went up 20% in 2021, and then in 2022 agreed to pay over $220M for price fixing while reporting $6.5B in profit that year.

        This is why the real problems struggle to get fixed.

        When you have unlimited corporate dark money going into politics, you get a government that seeks to obfuscate the issues to keep the population blaming the wrong things, to keep the money flowing into their “campaign funds.”

        Fixing housing requires changing local zoning laws and depowering current homeowners from the ability to pull the ladder up after them to protect their investment. They will never back that en masse on their own, because they benefit.

        I don’t disagree with that. And I’m in the minority of homeowners who do try and vote for making things more accessible knowing it will increase my own tax burden to pay for it, because I will benefit from having a more stable society around me even if my house doesn’t appreciate another $100k.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          People who are trying to buy a home are having to get into bidding wars with investors, who are buying 1/4 homes sold in the last ~9 months.

          This only happens because we already have such a shortage that there is guaranteed ROI.

          And I’m in the minority of homeowners who do try and vote for making things more accessible knowing it will increase my own tax burden to pay for it, because I will benefit from having a more stable society around me even if my house doesn’t appreciate another $100k.

          Same dude! We just gotta keep trying to change more minds.