Debunking 4 Myths About Inflation | Robert Reich

Raising interest rates is a terrible mistake.

The Fed assumes inflation is being driven by wage increases.

That is false. Wage growth has lagged far behind inflation.

You know what’s a real driver of inflation? Monopolistic corporations jacking up prices to maximize profits.

[howardkerr]

WAGES have almost NEVER been a driver of inflation, quite the reverse, inflation drives workers to seek higher wages.

[Loneman_OG]

You could just as easily be talking about us over here in -Great- Britain, except our wages haven't risen as much, if at all, and our inflation is higher.
We're suffering from the same lies and inaccurate rhetoric from the overly wealthy and their right-whinger enablers. 🤬

[TC-uksg]

Politicians will never act against their corporate owners.

[johnhart]

🤔The rich get the gains, the poor get the blame, so it's business as

[roysmith]

Seeing that wages are still 50 years behind inflation yeah I'd say you're right can't blame wage increases

[ldbarthel]

Some talking head was suggesting that corporate greed couldn't be the cause because corporations have always been greedy. Qualitatively, that's true. But quantitatively, not so much. Do not forget that a lot of pandemic relief went to corporations, not American families.

[nathanbrady]

One of the most brilliant things capitalism has accomplished is convincing poor people that other poor people are why they're poor.

[Nic]

"Handful" of corporate Democrats seems generous. It feels like there's less and less of a difference on fiscal policy every election cycle.

[ljwhitmire]

I'm all for a business or entrepreneur making it big. But it seems to the last one, the first thing rich people want to do is beat poor people down! You made a lot of money? Good on you. Why do you spend your money trying to prevent me from making mine? I thought Walmart was the worst when it moved into neighborhoods and destroyed local businesses. It's also beaten down competitors. In my area Walmart got exits from I-40 closed so that getting to other grocery stores was harder than going to Walmart. These weren't local Mom n Pop stores, the were Lowes Foods stores. Since Walmart moved into this county, Lowes, Harris Teeter, Kroger, and others have moved out. Now 40 years from my childhood we have the least amount of choices ever. Amazon has done the same to online retail. Good for Amazon that they built an incredible e-commerce business. Truly remarkable. But now Bezos seems to spend most of his time figuring out ways to beat down his employees and sellers on his platform.
First, get rid of free shipping. It's a scam on the public and on sellers on most platforms. Make sure Amazon does not get a better deal from the USPS than any other commercial shipper. It looks like Amazon is getting tightly integrated to the USPS almost to the point of the USPS being a subsidiary of Amazon.This alone creates unfair competition.

[growthandunderstanding]

Thank you for working to keep the proletariat informed, Secretary Reich. You are an American hero! Now if we only had a political leader as good as you.

[caroleekeith]

Thank you for all you do to help educate the American people.
Vote out all corporate owned politicians regardless of party affiliation.
Begin locally. Check the voting record of all politicians. If they vote for the corporate over the citizenry...vote them out, ASAP.
Vote democraticly for a more civil society.

[SuperFly.]

spot on video.

the capitalist system is broken:
through the lack of true competition.

[lindazak]

Oil company profits in the US are up 300% ...in one year !

[OneBlurryLens]

The number one reason for inflation:

Greedy rich investors

[spir]

I'm only voting for candidates who promote the windfall profits tax!

[comfortablynumb]

One of the 14 characteristics of fascism is blaming "others" or "them" or "those people" for everything. And the GOP is checking the other 13 boxes as well.

[carycunningham]

Interest rate hikes are NOT the only way to control inflation. Especially cost-push inflation. Firms set prices, period. Real wages are down. Interest rate hikes ARE the best way to control for prices without hurting investor profits. This is a policy choice, not an inevitability like the con artists want you to believe. Interest rates are indeed a tool but even the Fed itself before Congress admitted interest rate hikes would not be able to control prices directly.

[roseymalino]

Malarkey! There's no such thing as WINDFALL PROFITS. People go into business to make a profit. A WINDFALL is a gain for no risk such as student debt not having to be paid by the debtor. Taxpayers (corporations pay taxes) are already being hit by a WINDFALL tax by being made to pay off someone else's debt.

[commonsense.]

Honeslty if there had been enough federal assistance going to the poor working classes. There never would have been a production slow down.

[ofekcohen]

You know, I wish inflation would have bee caused by higher wages. That is the mark of a successful economy. Workers get more money, spend more, and business adjust by raising prices. When this happens wages raise faster than inflation, and the quality of life of the average worker increases. This is obviously not the case right now.