Elizabeth Warren is targeting supermarket chains over sky-high food prices
Donald Luskin, Trendmacro CIO, and Ed Yardeni, Yardeni Research President, discuss Elizabeth Warren’s recent comments on Biden’s decision to nominate Jerome Powell as federal chairman of “Making Money”
It is. Elizabeth Warren accused three major grocery chains of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to increase prices exponentially for US consumers, even though the companies are making record profits.
Warren, a former Democratic presidential candidate, indicated in separate letters to CEOs of Publix, Kroger and Albertsons that the companies had used their huge profits earned in 2020 to reward executives with bonuses and make further share buybacks, while prices rose. of food.
WHERE DO CONSUMER PRICES BEAT HARDEST?
“Your business, and the other big merchants who reaped the benefits of a turbulent 2020, seem to be passing on costs to consumers to keep your pandemic going, and even exploit inflation to add to the greater burden,”[ads1]; Warren wrote.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Speaks at a Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill October 19, 2021 in Washington, DC (Mandel Ngan-Pool / Getty Images / Getty Images)
Americans are struggling with the warmest inflation in almost four decades, with consumer prices in November rising by 6.8% from the previous year. Food prices were no exception: in November they rose 0.5% from the previous month and 6.8% from the previous year.
The increases were most pronounced for different types of meat, with staggering year-on-year increases for beef (20.9%), bacon (21%), pork (12.7%), fish (8%) and chicken (9.2). %). . Egg prices rose 8% compared to last year, while coffee rose 7.5% and cereals rose 5.7%.
“Your businesses had a choice: they could have kept prices lower for consumers and properly protected and compensated their workers, or given massive payments to top executives and investors,” Warren wrote. “It’s disappointing that you chose not to put customers and workers first.”
Kroger, for example, recorded a profit of $ 2.6 billion in 2020, an increase of 5.6% from the previous year. Albertsons reported $ 1.89 billion in net income for 2020, an increase from $ 612.1 million, and Publix reported a 60% increase in profit for the third quarter of 2020, Warren wrote.
An employee pushes shopping carts toward a Kroger Co. store in Peoria, Illinois, on Tuesday, June 16, 2015. (Daniel Acker / Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“In 2021, the same companies continued to make massive profits while pushing grocery cost increases for consumers,” the progressive lawmaker wrote, pointing to a recent conversation with investors in which Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said that “a little inflation is always good in our business. . “
Kroger, Publix, and Albertsons did not immediately respond to a FOX Business request for comment.
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A separate measure for the Ministry of Labor, which measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers, found that it rose by 9.6% in November from a year ago, and marks the highest figure recorded since the government began tracking the data 11 years ago . On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.8% in November after rising by 0.6% in October. Food prices rose 1.2% in November.
Warren asked companies to answer a number of questions by January 7, 2022, including the extent to which they reached or exceeded the profit targets during the pandemic; any increase in the average wholesale price paid by their company for various foods; any increase in the average retail price offered by the company for various foods; and whether the companies raised wages this year.
