• roscoe@startrek.website
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    10 months ago

    If you want to know how bad we’re being fucked, search for the PPI, the producer price index. CPI, the one we always hear about, is the measure of inflation to us, the consumer. The PPI is the measure of inflation to producers, what they pay for goods and services to produce the goods and services we buy.

    The PPI has been back to “normal” for a while now. Pretty much as soon as the post COVID logistics issues were mostly ironed out. The difference between PPI and CPI changes is pure profit.

    We don’t get daily articles on the PPI though, I wonder why.

    Edit: tell people about PPI whenever you can, online or off, the more people know, the better. It’s easy enough to say inflation is just down to greed but being able to back it up by comparing two simple charts will help people really understand.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      For anyone curious, here are the BLS pages for PPI and CPI where you can see just how badly they’re screwing us. Especially when you look at the long term graph showing that they’re just barely above where they were a decade ago.

    • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      It is not accurately “pure profit,” but this is a post that is so common sense and dead on that quibbling on that detail misses the point.

      The question is: why would they reduce costs if they’re being paid? People being mad about it doesn’t affect their bottom line unless it actually affects their bottom line.

      It’s more profitable to keep up the misery and take the gain until forced to change then apologize and change. It’s free money. Why would they charge less if they can make money charging more? There is no incentive for them to bring down their own profit margins just because people don’t like it.

      • roscoe@startrek.website
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        10 months ago

        Hopefully the knowledge can affect their bottom line. Consumer sentiment affects spending habits. If people know they’re being gouged instead of just feeling like it, maybe they’ll curb their non-essential spending enough to put downward pressure on prices.

        Maybe not, but it can’t hurt.

      • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Indeed, people are actively giving them the excuse. It’s more important to paste your clever “I did this” sticker than it is to ask why oil companies have posted record profits the past couple years.