Should companies be doing more to help? There is certainly an argument that can be made that companies aren’t protecting their customers as well as they could or perhaps should, especially considering the enormous profits being made and the safety cushion they are making for themselves could, at least in theory, support reduced prices. Companies could do more to help people. They could invest in their workforce, offering better wage packages and protecting employees from the cost-ofliving increases that way, therein supporting their employees. The energy companies could take this windfall in profit and invest heavily in renewables, which may make the increased cost of fossil fuels in the short term more palatable. They could do all the above and slash their profits in half, but why should they? In the UK, the Bank of England’s governor Andrew Bailey commented that the price and wage increases ‘are unsustainable’. He suggests that it’s not just price increases but wage increases causing issues and driving inflation. So, perhaps it isn’t greed and a lack of empathy that is forcing these companies into these situations, but leaders of banks and companies around the world looking at the economic picture and telling them to hold fast in order to battle inflation. In Summary It seems that the term ‘Greedflation’ is more of a buzzword than a reality. There likely are examples of companies profiteering, but not as part of some grand conspiracy to satiate their corporate greed and make record profits. Unfortunately, the reality seems to be that inflation is being driven by issues around the world, and ultimately, like in many scenarios throughout history, it is poor people that take the brunt of the damage when economic belts are forced to tighten. Optics are everything, and the term ‘Greedflation’ is likely driven by a working class that is beset by low wages, price increases, inflation, and an overall deterioration in their standard of living. In the meantime, you have a world in which the rich are seen to be getting richer, and it’s this dichotomy which is going to further fuel terms such as ‘Greedflation’. Perhaps it isn’t greed and a lack of empathy that is forcing these companies into these situations, but leaders of banks and companies around the world looking at the economic picture and telling them to hold fast in order to battle inflation. Finance Monthly. Economy 57
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