Price gouging: Shortages real or are some fabricated?

[nepal]

.
Price gouging. Are all shortages real or are some fabricated? It seems that some businesses are price gouging just because they can join the bandwagon and get away with it.

> Example, you get three quotes to reroof your house, two are near 20k and one is near 30k. When the 30k bidder is asked why their bid is so high, they respond that they don’t care if they win the bid because they have lots of work. Next month you get three more bids on a similar house, now two are 30k and one is 40k. The first two now say, we’ll 30k is the going rate so take it or leave it. Their labour and material costs likely haven’t changed by as much, but the consumers have been conditioned to accept much higher prices without question.

> Example, you go to a supplier to buy an item that last year was $100, but now they want $150. You happen to see in their warehouse an old pallet of the items that hasn’t moved in months. They’ve put the price up because the consumers have been conditioned to accept high inflation without question.

Obviously there have been shortages of some items and their prices had increased due to supply and demand, but it seems some other businesses are taking advantage of the situation and gouging. This leads to Central Banks implementing monetary policy, using interest rates to increase borrowing costs to deter consumers from loose spending, the theory being that this will cause less demand thus making the market more competitive again. Central Banks will continue to increase rates until prices head downward, throwing water on the inflation gouging. On the supply side, not all supply was interrupted, and much of it that was interrupted has recovered, for example lumber, hotel rooms, food, fuel. I see gouging in land, tipping, commissions, trades, etc.

Do you think there is post-pandemic gouging going on?
.

[captkirkcanada]

Well regardless of supply when it comes to food and different things people may need to have a quality of life , if the price goes way up then it should be punished .

[lesliepaul]

Were there and are their supply-chain shortages.........go back two years, absolutely!..........a year ago, yes. At this point in time I have to believe that MUCH of the so-called shortages are being MANUFACTURED by the same companies that tell us all of their problems in the manufacture of their products because of _ _ _ _ _ _ fill in the blanks.

EVERY car manufacturer on earth is MAKING lots of money today even though the car lots are pretty empty of new vehicles. These manufacturers have trimmed scores of employees over the last two years and raised prices across the board........with many of these vehicles lacking options that are normally on every vehicle. At this time there does not seem to be a huge concern from them when new inventory will return to normal. What their greed (my opinion) of waiting this out to "up" production has raised the used vehicle market price HUGELY. I have access to CBB (Canadian Black Book) wholesale vehicle prices and I will tell you, unless you are in dire need of a vehicle........DON'T BUY now, especially used.......you are overpaying HUGELY for something that is going to drop in value BIGTIME as soon as the car lots fill up with new inventory.

The used car (toy) I have been looking for two years has gone from a price point in the $50's with CBB wholesale in the $40's........today there are plenty of these particular vehicles around for sale with asking prices in the $80's and MUCH higher......NOT HAPPENING......in two years that 12/13 year old car is coming back down to earth and YOU will be left holding the bag on a continually depreciating asset. On the other hand, if you happen to own one of these and are thinking about dumping it, do it now. You will have to wait for a "sucker" to come along but you could do very well on your P.O.S.!

[Gone_Fishin]

Remember when the Trudeau Liberals refused to disclose how much prices for goods and services would go up with layered and rapidly increasing carbon taxes, despite repeated calls from the Opposition parties to get a figure from the minister of finance?

Well, now you know.

Companies who produce goods and services are trying to cover their increased taxation with price increases for the consumer, just as those of us familiar with economics said they would.

And shortages - well, when your government bans and/or restricts production of goods, we'll have shortages. And many producers have called it quits because they can't afford Trudeau's 81% increase in payroll taxes, or the imposition of carbon taxes that compound throughout the supply chain.

I'd start looking at government policy before I'd bet on price gouging.

[hobbyguy]

Remember when the Trudeau Liberals refused to disclose how much prices for goods and services would go up with layered and rapidly increasing carbon taxes, despite repeated calls from the Opposition parties to get a figure from the minister of finance?

Well, now you know.

Companies who produce goods and services are trying to cover their increased taxation with price increases for the consumer, just as those of us familiar with economics said they would.

And shortages - well, when your government bans and/or restricts production of goods, we'll have shortages. And many producers have called it quits because they can't afford Trudeau's 81% increase in payroll taxes, or the imposition of carbon taxes that compound throughout the supply chain.

I'd start looking at government policy before I'd bet on price gouging.

Then you are really, really misdirected by the billionaires astroturfing wall.

Chevron, Cargill and and others are reporting record high profits....and most of those are only reflecting the first quarter results BEFORE they jacked the prices from stupid high to criminally high... Chevron quadrupled its first quarter profits....Cargill reported its biggest ever profit in its 156 year history....

So there you have it, oil/natural gas/food.... and their 2nd quarter results will be waaaay higher as they stuck the knife in our backs and twisted it!

[Sparki55]

So there you have it, oil/natural gas/food.... and their 2nd quarter results will be waaaay higher as they stuck the knife in our backs and twisted it!

Can you blame oil and natural gas? 2 years ago the government said f you to fossil fuels, you're dirty CEOs and your shareholders and everyone who burns your crap product can all pay an extra tax you scum.

Now you're mad they're profiting? What were they supposed to do? Take the *bleep* and tax punishment abd then bend over during the pandemic in the name of socialism and wealth taxes. Get real.

As for food, Cargill is a major exporter of wheat. Guess what Ukraine makes a lot of?

Use Google.

[lesliepaul]

One thing you have to remember with these HUGE companies, be it oil, food, auto manufacturers.........EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM is diversified into so many different areas outside of their main business that if one part of their conglomerate is "down", their other entities are making PROFIT. You just have to pick a BIG name and Google it to see what they own........start with Daimler-Benz, General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Shell, BP.........then check out the tobacco companies.........none of them loose in the big picture no matter the crying you hear from them.

[nepal]

.
For those who are gouging, reduce or stop doing business with them. When a recession occurs, gougers will wonder where their former customers went.

[Gone_Fishin]

All the leftists on their iPhone 13 Super Duper Latest Blingies reading this should now demand that their phones cost twice as much because Apple needs to be taxed for outrageous profits!

What Biden Is Getting Wrong About Big Oil’s Profits


Last Friday President Biden singled out ExxonMobil for reaping big profits as a result of high oil and gas prices. The President complained “Why don’t you tell them what Exxon’s profits were this year? This quarter? Exxon made more money than God this year. Exxon, start investing. Start paying your taxes.”

Other prominent Democrats have also smeared oil companies in an attempt to deflect anger over high gas prices. Earlier this year Bernie Sanders blamed inflation on high oil company profits, which reflected a complete failure to understand cause and effect.

Oil companies aren’t reaping huge profits because they are gouging consumers, and their high profits aren’t driving inflation. The high profits and soaring inflation are both a result of high oil prices, and oil companies have little influence over that.

The oil companies are always a convenient scapegoat, particularly for Democrats. But let’s look at ExxonMobil’s profits in context. Further, let’s compare the company’s net profits to those of Apple over the past 10 quarters.



In the most recent quarter, ExxonMobil reported $5.5 billion in net income. If that’s “more than God”, I wonder how President Biden would quantify Apple’s $25.0 billion for the quarter. Five times more than God? Oh, and ExxonMobil also paid $2.8 billion in taxes for the quarter, so it seems that they are paying their taxes.

snip

Over the past 12 months, ExxonMobil has reported $25.8 billion in net income versus Apple’s $101.9 billion. But if we look back further, the discrepancy is much worse.

ExxonMobil reported losses in four of the past ten quarters, including a whopping $20.1 billion loss in December 2020. That’s what can happen when you don’t control the price of the product you sell.

You don’t see that happening with Apple. They never earned less than $11.2 billion in any of the past ten quarters. Add it all up and include the losses, and over the past ten quarters ExxonMobil earned $11.8 billion dollars and Apple earned $211.7 billion

snip

ExxonMobil is selling a product whose price is set in the global commodity markets. They earn a fraction of Apple’s profits.

Apple has full control over the price of its products and trounces ExxonMobil’s earnings in every quarter. Apple could slash the price of its products and still make a huge profit. But ExxonMobil can’t slash the price of its products because it doesn’t set the price.

Yet it’s ExxonMobil that is accused of gouging.

If you want to know how we end up with bad energy policies, it’s because too many politicians believe things that aren’t true.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-Gene ... ofits.html

[Jlabute]

Many of the worlds shipping containers come from Shanghai and various Chinese ports that are undergoing lengthy COVID lockdowns. The demand for containers has caused price to artificially skyrocket. I would bet the lockdowns are part of an economic war with the west. If there are going to be shortages, why not control the supply to command a better price? Especially if your enemies have to pay that price.

[foenix]

*removed*

[Babba_not_Gump]

Shortages real or are some fabricated?

Yes.

[Catri]

Shortages real or are some fabricated?

Yes.

[Boosted632]

So bascally the great reset = the cost of living going up by by 50% to 75% and wages go up by 10%to20% sounds logical

[Catsumi]

Many of the worlds shipping containers come from Shanghai and various Chinese ports that are undergoing lengthy COVID lockdowns. The demand for containers has caused price to artificially skyrocket. I would bet the lockdowns are part of an economic war with the west. If there are going to be shortages, why not control the supply to command a better price? Especially if your enemies have to pay that price.

We all love Kovid narratives.

Is it surprising to anyone that lockdowns anywhere along the supply chain might be a first strike in an economic war between east and west?

The mandates of Kovid created disruptions and ruptures in the buy-sell of widgets world wide.

Q: What country benefits most from the tire iron shoved into the spokes of our bicycles?

Always, follow the money.