Analysts at the Bank of America said tariffs have raised prices for consumers.
They wrote in a note that consumers have covered about 50% to 70% of the cost of levies to date.
This suggests tariffs will continue to put “upward pressure” on inflation, they said.
And when the tariffs go away, prices will remain high - but at least we’ll have yet another round of “record profits” and share buybacks for the rich, so we’ve got that going for us …
Worst part is that prices can’t go down without causing deflation, and that’s economic disaster for all of us.
Even if the top executives voluntarily took a pay cut (LMFAO), that pay is a drop in the bucket vs. any given company’s profit and total employee pay.
No way any CEO or board of directors voluntarily takes a hit on stock prices. How can they? They would simply be replaced by the largest shareholders. Even the smallest want a positive return on their retirement accounts. Stock slipping? Then the fund manager pulls that stock from that fund and moves on. It’s a monstrous, circular clusterfuck.
Worked at one company where the board applauded the CEO saying we were going in the red for two years. But that included a plan to build staff and products. Bet they’re no longer expanding in this uncertain economy. (Funny thing, through a bit of luck and being an awesome group, we made a profit those years anyway.)
Anyway, I don’t see the radical system change/shock we need coming without Great Depression 2.0. Taxing the snot out of the rich ain’t in the cards ATM. :(
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