Machine Pun Kelly: Did corporations inflate prices to help Trump's election? Sure as fuck looks like that happened.

[Dennis Donovan]

Machine Pun Kelly
Does anyone else suspect that corporations were artificially inflating prices to blame Biden to help Trump win the election so they could get even lower tax rates?

Cuz it sure as fuck looks like that happened.
9:25 AM · Nov 12, 2024

Link to tweet

[Irish_Dem]

1. The billionaires and corporations are done with democracy.

The rich and powerful have no interest in the common good.
Americans are suckers and losers to be manipulated and conned.

[bronxiteforever]

2. Yes we are an oligarchy.

[Irish_Dem]

4. I have been saying that for 20 years.

I watched the psychopath billionaires take over health care.
And wipe out mental health providers.

I always said health care was the canary in the coal mine.
We are an oligarchy. People were puzzled back then about what that meant.

But they aren't now.

[GPV]

5. JFK was the prez who should have dealt

with them, and get us started on climate change. So much lost time.

[Irish_Dem]

6. He tried dealing with organized crime, the CIA, and the military industrial complex.

We know how that worked out for him and the country.

[jaxexpat]

14. Aw, come on. I was just getting used to being fascist

[Irish_Dem]

29. Oligarchy and fascism go hand in hand.

We can be both.

[OldBaldy1701E]

27. And, when neither can be done to you anymore... time to go away peasant. (n/t)

[Henry203]

3. Ask a magat

Supposedly, the reason for inflation was the supply chain was broken. The supply chain has been fixed for 2 years. Why haven’t the prices come down?

[Jack Valentino]

9. Because we kept paying them, instead of rioting at the grocery store.

[Dave says]

41. Deflation is not something to wish for

It usually accompanies severe depressions and high unemployment.

[mathematic]

7. Platform lunatic conspiracy theories like this if you want to live under Republicans for the rest of your life

Inflation's at about 2.5% and has been normal-ish for about a year and a half now. Stop posting alternate facts. If reality has a liberal bias then the Democrats will never win with alternate facts.

[NutmegYankee]

10. lunatic conspiracy theories seem to working quite well for the opposition. nt

[groundloop]

17. Oops, accidentally responded to the wrong post.

[markodochartaigh]

16. Greedflation accounted for about half of inflation.

From the leftist, conspiracy rag "Fortune":

https://fortune.com/2024/01/20/inflation-greedflation-consumer-price-index-producer-price-index-corporate-profit/

[Autumn]

18. I like Anasazi beans.1.99 lb. I used to buy them at Kroger and Wal mart.

Haven't found them for over a year. I can get them on Amazon. 6 pounds for 29.99

That's not fucking normal.

[jaxexpat]

19. Are you insisting that Repubicans get elected by rational people?.

It's they who live in the fantasy world yet they won this election. What's up with that, eh?
I, for one, am weary of people who dismiss others with warnings about the results of lunatic theories. The results of lunatics are very clearly here already.

[mathematic]

24. I haven't even asserted it, much less insisted on it! But go and be weary.

You make it sound like I'm taking away your candy cane when I tell you not to promote lunatic conspiracy theories. Like it's a great tragedy that you don't get convince people of non-reality.

[Jack Valentino]

8. They inflated prices to help themselves, but it was win-win for them,

since most of the people in control over setting prices are Republicans.

[ananda]

11. Works for me.

I always though this.

[orwell]

12. This is demonstrably true...

...it was mainly accomplished through oil price manipulation. To be clear, oil price has always been manipulated since the founding of OPEC.

Look at the spot commodity price of oil today vs. Nov. 4th. We are currently near 12 month lows.

The highest price of oil in the Biden administration was right after Russia invaded Ukraine ($130 per barrel) on the futures. It is 68.30 as of this post.

When oil began to really come down after it was realized that the Ukraine war was going to go on a lot longer than anyone expected, the Saudis (OPEC) began the production cutbacks to keep the spot price up. This was in the face of oil dislocations from the Ukrainian war. This was the prime driver of the lingering inflation rates. Energy is the most important economic input in global economies.

The fed had to react to these energy prices by raising the target rate (fed borrowing rate by banks.) This added the second barrel to the inflation longevity. Now you had high oil prices (most important input) and high real interest rates (most important financial system input.)

The oil prices, primarily kept high by the anti-Biden/anti-US Saudi MBS regime not only kept global inflationary expectations high, it almost certainly tanked any hope of the Democrats in the 2024 election.

This was direct collusion, between US oil producers (who cut drilling programs to keep supply down), the Russians (who hated Biden and the Democrats), and MBS and the Saudi's who wanted the rapist back in office.

It was brilliant and it worked.

BTW, most of the Oligarchs were more than happy with the entire process as it made them fabulously wealthy.

[moondust]

13. Yes, have suspected that

for quite some time.

[Autumn]

15. Anyone who didn't figure that out early on is a complete moron.

Just like gasoline.

[Mr.Bee]

20. Those who own the refineries

own the world, because everything has to be shipped!

[Autumn]

38. The now know they can wield their power and no on will stop them.

[Mr.Bee]

39. They now know they can sell them anything

watch the shiny object.

[littlemissmartypants]

21. Late to the party...

"Meet the Hidden Architect Behind America's Racist Economics"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016389163

Post by
littlemissmartypants
Thursday

Meet the Hidden Architect Behind America's Racist Economics
By Lynn Parramore

Nobel laureate James Buchanan is the intellectual linchpin of the Koch-funded attack on democratic institutions, argues Duke historian Nancy MacLean

May 30, 2018

Ask people to name the key minds that have shaped America’s burst of radical right-wing attacks on working conditions, consumer rights and public services, and they will typically mention figures like free market-champion Milton Friedman, libertarian guru Ayn Rand, and laissez-faire economists Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.

James McGill Buchanan is a name you will rarely hear unless you’ve taken several classes in economics. And if the Tennessee-born Nobel laureate were alive today, it would suit him just fine that most well-informed journalists, liberal politicians, and even many economics students have little understanding of his work.

The reason? Duke historian Nancy MacLean contends that his philosophy is so stark that even young libertarian acolytes are only introduced to it after they have accepted the relatively sunny perspective of Ayn Rand. (Yes, you read that correctly). If Americans really knew what Buchanan thought and promoted, and how destructively his vision is manifesting under their noses, it would dawn on them how close the country is to a transformation most would not even want to imagine, much less accept.

That is a dangerous blind spot, MacLean argues in a meticulously researched book, Democracy in Chains, a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction. While Americans grapple with Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency, we may be missing the key to changes that are taking place far beyond the level of mere politics. Once these changes are locked into place, there may be no going back.

Snip...more...
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/meet-the-economist-behind-the-one-percents-stealth-takeover-of-america

[W_HAMILTON]

22. Even if they didn't, you can rest assured they learned that they can do it in the future to hurt Democrats.

[ToxMarz]

23. Since the beginning, other than actual supply chain issues at the very beginning, it was intentional theft

rather than a market force, just because they could get away with it. They knew that at least half the country (the LOUDEST half) would blame Biden, not put any blame or negative consequences on the corporations/billionaires. Any blame that might drift their way was plausibly denied away by the pandemic and supply chain issues, etc. Most people don't have a great understaning of economics (it is complex), so this would become the 'conventional wisdom'. The loud half of the country actually reveled in the inflation because it undermined Biden and the Democrats and would help Trump. It was reported with lip smacking delight by Fox and the misinformation media. And the corporations could just rake in the cash, it was a no brainer for them, half the country and their media cheerleaders wanted as much inflation as possible to report and blame on Biden. Would have been malfeasence if the corporatioons hadn't raised prices from a share holder view. The tax cuts I don't think were neccessarily the impetus for it, but certainly was a futher supporting benefit for a strategy that already had little downside.

[GB_RN]

25. Simple.

Does a bear shit in the woods?

[Emile]

26. Yes and stupid people reward them and vote Republican.

People never learn.

[dchill]

28. Evidence of that has been plentiful since COVID-19.

...and after it faded, and prices were still artificially high.

[calimary]

30. Wouldn't surprise me.

Whores come in all shapes, sizes, and numbers.

[Dogdirt]

31. Did corporations inflate prices to help Trump's election?

If prices suddenly go down, let's say 60-90 days, after the inauguration then we know the answer!

[Basso8vb]

32. Duh

[RainCaster]

33. Bubba's not going to be happy when his gas goes up

His new Apple phone will cost a whole lot more because of tariffs.
His groceries are going up because of tariffs, too. Then they will go up even more when it's harvest season here next year and there are no workers for the fields and orchards.
Of course Faux News will blame it on Joe.

[live love laugh]

34. "Link?": "WE" can't prove that, therefore it's crazy and should not be discussed.

[Blue Full Moon]

35. Boycott republican companies like Krogers

They admitted to raising prices past even the inflation. The one CEO is quoted they back republicans because they cause inflation which is maximum profit.

[Blue Full Moon]

36. Another example

The gasoline prices have dropped a little after the election. The WSJ had article That stated that oil prices dropped after trump elected. But while the republicans were crowing the reason isn't really a good thing. The dip is because of the fact that trump tariffs are going to cause the companies and manufacturers are not going to need the oil. The manufacturing is going to decline because of the high prices caused by the tariffs.

[onenote]

37. So why did gas prices drop? I repeatedly saw predictions here that gas prices would go up before the election.

Didn't happen. In six of seven swing states, the price of a gallon of regular gas was lower the month and then the week leading up to the election than it was a year earlier, sometimes substantially lower. The price was lower than the national average in three of the seven, including Georgia, the one state where the price a year ago was a bit less than it was a week before the election.

[BlueTsunami2018]

40. How does it "look like that"?

Are prices lower now?