SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
People stand at the checkout counter after shopping at a supermarket in Alhambra, California on July 13, 2022. (Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
'Hey Dems, Blame the Corporate Profiteers': Progressives Offer Midterm Messaging Advice on Inflation
Targeting price gouging and the greed of major companies "has the advantage of being a vote-winner and the advantage of being true," said one commentator.
Oct 24, 2022
With just over two weeks to go until the midterm elections and polls suggesting that Republicans' claims that Democrats and social spending are to blame for historic inflation have struck a chord with voters, progressives have doubled down in recent days on their demand that the Democratic Party go on the offensive and talk about "the real villains" behind the rising cost of living: corporate profiteers.
While Democratic strategists and politicians have seemed eager in recent months to change the subject from the economy--effectively ignoring the struggles of a majority of U.S. households as the GOP hammers home the message that Democrats are to blame for high gas and grocery prices--progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan have urged the party to see that they can and should face the issue head-on.
"There is one obvious way for Democrats to defend themselves, to go on the offensive and blame the real villains of this inflationary story--villains who right now are getting a complete pass," Hasan told his audience on Sunday night. "Because yes, rising food prices and energy costs have pushed U.S. inflation to the highest rate in more than 40 years, as we're told ad nauseum."
"But do you know what's at its highest rate in more than 70 years?" he continued. "Corporate profits."
At The Guardian on Sunday, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich agreed that in addition to being part of a global trend, "inflation in the United States is also being caused by corporations raising their prices faster than their costs to fatten their profit margins."
"Corporate profits continue to climb even as consumers are taking it on the chin. It's a giant redistribution from consumers to corporations," he wrote. "This would seem to be a natural issue for Democrats to be sounding off about."
Hasan pointed to the most recent reported net profits of companies including BP, which "secured its biggest windfall in 14 years last quarter with $8.5 billion," and Amazon, which "saw a 333% increase in profits between 2020 and 2022."
As Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) explained in a viral video taken during a congressional hearing last month, the recovery from the economic shocks of the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic is not the first time the U.S. has experienced high inflation, but numerous analyses have shown that the current inflation crisis has been driven largely by corporate profits.
"More than half of the increase in prices [is] driven by corporate profits, less than 10%, driven by labor costs," Hasan told his viewers, showing a graph Porter held up at the hearing.
With that in mind, he added, "why can't [Democrats] call for a windfall tax on the ginormous profits of Big Oil or Big Pharma?"
"There has to be an across-the-board, all-hands-on-deck, 24/7 Democratic Party campaign that identifies price gouging and corporate profiteering as one of the key drivers of inflation in this country."
Hasan's segment aired as recent polls have consistently shown that the economy and inflation top voters' lists of concerns as the midterm election approaches, and that voters who are most worried about the rising cost of living are increasingly leaning toward Republican candidates.
As Common Dreams reported last week, independent voters swung toward the GOP over the course of a month according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, with 51% of independents saying they plan to vote for Republicans. Independent women supported the GOP by a margin of 18 points this month after backing Democrats by 14 points in September, and respondents who named the economy and inflation as their biggest concerns supported Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin.
On Monday, FiveThirtyEight reported the Democrats' chances of maintaining their narrow control of the Senate have dropped by 11% over the past month.
While President Joe Biden has occasionally taken aim at corporate price gougers and companies that have raked in huge profits during the pandemic, said Hasan, "it's not enough to just occasionally mention it in passing."
"Going forward it should be considered political malpractice for Democrats to allow any conversation about inflation that's not centered on the role of corporate profiteering," he added. "One, it has the advantage of being a vote-winner, and two, it has the advantage of being true."
While many Democratic candidates and advisers have portrayed abortion rights and the protection of U.S. democracy as the key issues of the midterm elections--despite evidence to the contrary--Sanders has spent the past several weeks driving home the message that the party must run on a comprehensive message about the economy.
On Thursday, the senator is set to begin a tour of eight states, holding at least 19 voter mobilization events where he intends to take aim at Republicans for their plans to hand out tax cuts to the rich and cut Social Security and Medicare benefits, while going on the offensive regarding the state of the economy.
"At a time when working families are struggling, having a hard time filling up their gas tanks, paying for food, paying for prescription drugs, we are living in a nation today where the richest people are doing phenomenally well," Sanders told CNN on Sunday as he explained his plan to mobilize working people ahead of the election. "And one of the reasons for inflation is the incredible level of corporate greed."
Hasan urged the rest of the Democratic caucus to join Sanders in clearly explaining to voters that supporting the Republican Party--which unanimously rejected a bill to crack down on price gouging by oil companies this year--will not give them relief from inflation.
"There has to be an across-the-board, all-hands-on-deck, 24/7 Democratic Party campaign that identifies price gouging and corporate profiteering as one of the key drivers of inflation in this country," Hasan said. "You have to lay it out for the voters, because the facts are on your side."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
With just over two weeks to go until the midterm elections and polls suggesting that Republicans' claims that Democrats and social spending are to blame for historic inflation have struck a chord with voters, progressives have doubled down in recent days on their demand that the Democratic Party go on the offensive and talk about "the real villains" behind the rising cost of living: corporate profiteers.
While Democratic strategists and politicians have seemed eager in recent months to change the subject from the economy--effectively ignoring the struggles of a majority of U.S. households as the GOP hammers home the message that Democrats are to blame for high gas and grocery prices--progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan have urged the party to see that they can and should face the issue head-on.
"There is one obvious way for Democrats to defend themselves, to go on the offensive and blame the real villains of this inflationary story--villains who right now are getting a complete pass," Hasan told his audience on Sunday night. "Because yes, rising food prices and energy costs have pushed U.S. inflation to the highest rate in more than 40 years, as we're told ad nauseum."
"But do you know what's at its highest rate in more than 70 years?" he continued. "Corporate profits."
At The Guardian on Sunday, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich agreed that in addition to being part of a global trend, "inflation in the United States is also being caused by corporations raising their prices faster than their costs to fatten their profit margins."
"Corporate profits continue to climb even as consumers are taking it on the chin. It's a giant redistribution from consumers to corporations," he wrote. "This would seem to be a natural issue for Democrats to be sounding off about."
Hasan pointed to the most recent reported net profits of companies including BP, which "secured its biggest windfall in 14 years last quarter with $8.5 billion," and Amazon, which "saw a 333% increase in profits between 2020 and 2022."
As Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) explained in a viral video taken during a congressional hearing last month, the recovery from the economic shocks of the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic is not the first time the U.S. has experienced high inflation, but numerous analyses have shown that the current inflation crisis has been driven largely by corporate profits.
"More than half of the increase in prices [is] driven by corporate profits, less than 10%, driven by labor costs," Hasan told his viewers, showing a graph Porter held up at the hearing.
With that in mind, he added, "why can't [Democrats] call for a windfall tax on the ginormous profits of Big Oil or Big Pharma?"
"There has to be an across-the-board, all-hands-on-deck, 24/7 Democratic Party campaign that identifies price gouging and corporate profiteering as one of the key drivers of inflation in this country."
Hasan's segment aired as recent polls have consistently shown that the economy and inflation top voters' lists of concerns as the midterm election approaches, and that voters who are most worried about the rising cost of living are increasingly leaning toward Republican candidates.
As Common Dreams reported last week, independent voters swung toward the GOP over the course of a month according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, with 51% of independents saying they plan to vote for Republicans. Independent women supported the GOP by a margin of 18 points this month after backing Democrats by 14 points in September, and respondents who named the economy and inflation as their biggest concerns supported Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin.
On Monday, FiveThirtyEight reported the Democrats' chances of maintaining their narrow control of the Senate have dropped by 11% over the past month.
While President Joe Biden has occasionally taken aim at corporate price gougers and companies that have raked in huge profits during the pandemic, said Hasan, "it's not enough to just occasionally mention it in passing."
"Going forward it should be considered political malpractice for Democrats to allow any conversation about inflation that's not centered on the role of corporate profiteering," he added. "One, it has the advantage of being a vote-winner, and two, it has the advantage of being true."
While many Democratic candidates and advisers have portrayed abortion rights and the protection of U.S. democracy as the key issues of the midterm elections--despite evidence to the contrary--Sanders has spent the past several weeks driving home the message that the party must run on a comprehensive message about the economy.
On Thursday, the senator is set to begin a tour of eight states, holding at least 19 voter mobilization events where he intends to take aim at Republicans for their plans to hand out tax cuts to the rich and cut Social Security and Medicare benefits, while going on the offensive regarding the state of the economy.
"At a time when working families are struggling, having a hard time filling up their gas tanks, paying for food, paying for prescription drugs, we are living in a nation today where the richest people are doing phenomenally well," Sanders told CNN on Sunday as he explained his plan to mobilize working people ahead of the election. "And one of the reasons for inflation is the incredible level of corporate greed."
Hasan urged the rest of the Democratic caucus to join Sanders in clearly explaining to voters that supporting the Republican Party--which unanimously rejected a bill to crack down on price gouging by oil companies this year--will not give them relief from inflation.
"There has to be an across-the-board, all-hands-on-deck, 24/7 Democratic Party campaign that identifies price gouging and corporate profiteering as one of the key drivers of inflation in this country," Hasan said. "You have to lay it out for the voters, because the facts are on your side."
From Your Site Articles
With just over two weeks to go until the midterm elections and polls suggesting that Republicans' claims that Democrats and social spending are to blame for historic inflation have struck a chord with voters, progressives have doubled down in recent days on their demand that the Democratic Party go on the offensive and talk about "the real villains" behind the rising cost of living: corporate profiteers.
While Democratic strategists and politicians have seemed eager in recent months to change the subject from the economy--effectively ignoring the struggles of a majority of U.S. households as the GOP hammers home the message that Democrats are to blame for high gas and grocery prices--progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan have urged the party to see that they can and should face the issue head-on.
"There is one obvious way for Democrats to defend themselves, to go on the offensive and blame the real villains of this inflationary story--villains who right now are getting a complete pass," Hasan told his audience on Sunday night. "Because yes, rising food prices and energy costs have pushed U.S. inflation to the highest rate in more than 40 years, as we're told ad nauseum."
"But do you know what's at its highest rate in more than 70 years?" he continued. "Corporate profits."
At The Guardian on Sunday, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich agreed that in addition to being part of a global trend, "inflation in the United States is also being caused by corporations raising their prices faster than their costs to fatten their profit margins."
"Corporate profits continue to climb even as consumers are taking it on the chin. It's a giant redistribution from consumers to corporations," he wrote. "This would seem to be a natural issue for Democrats to be sounding off about."
Hasan pointed to the most recent reported net profits of companies including BP, which "secured its biggest windfall in 14 years last quarter with $8.5 billion," and Amazon, which "saw a 333% increase in profits between 2020 and 2022."
As Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) explained in a viral video taken during a congressional hearing last month, the recovery from the economic shocks of the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic is not the first time the U.S. has experienced high inflation, but numerous analyses have shown that the current inflation crisis has been driven largely by corporate profits.
"More than half of the increase in prices [is] driven by corporate profits, less than 10%, driven by labor costs," Hasan told his viewers, showing a graph Porter held up at the hearing.
With that in mind, he added, "why can't [Democrats] call for a windfall tax on the ginormous profits of Big Oil or Big Pharma?"
"There has to be an across-the-board, all-hands-on-deck, 24/7 Democratic Party campaign that identifies price gouging and corporate profiteering as one of the key drivers of inflation in this country."
Hasan's segment aired as recent polls have consistently shown that the economy and inflation top voters' lists of concerns as the midterm election approaches, and that voters who are most worried about the rising cost of living are increasingly leaning toward Republican candidates.
As Common Dreams reported last week, independent voters swung toward the GOP over the course of a month according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, with 51% of independents saying they plan to vote for Republicans. Independent women supported the GOP by a margin of 18 points this month after backing Democrats by 14 points in September, and respondents who named the economy and inflation as their biggest concerns supported Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin.
On Monday, FiveThirtyEight reported the Democrats' chances of maintaining their narrow control of the Senate have dropped by 11% over the past month.
While President Joe Biden has occasionally taken aim at corporate price gougers and companies that have raked in huge profits during the pandemic, said Hasan, "it's not enough to just occasionally mention it in passing."
"Going forward it should be considered political malpractice for Democrats to allow any conversation about inflation that's not centered on the role of corporate profiteering," he added. "One, it has the advantage of being a vote-winner, and two, it has the advantage of being true."
While many Democratic candidates and advisers have portrayed abortion rights and the protection of U.S. democracy as the key issues of the midterm elections--despite evidence to the contrary--Sanders has spent the past several weeks driving home the message that the party must run on a comprehensive message about the economy.
On Thursday, the senator is set to begin a tour of eight states, holding at least 19 voter mobilization events where he intends to take aim at Republicans for their plans to hand out tax cuts to the rich and cut Social Security and Medicare benefits, while going on the offensive regarding the state of the economy.
"At a time when working families are struggling, having a hard time filling up their gas tanks, paying for food, paying for prescription drugs, we are living in a nation today where the richest people are doing phenomenally well," Sanders told CNN on Sunday as he explained his plan to mobilize working people ahead of the election. "And one of the reasons for inflation is the incredible level of corporate greed."
Hasan urged the rest of the Democratic caucus to join Sanders in clearly explaining to voters that supporting the Republican Party--which unanimously rejected a bill to crack down on price gouging by oil companies this year--will not give them relief from inflation.
"There has to be an across-the-board, all-hands-on-deck, 24/7 Democratic Party campaign that identifies price gouging and corporate profiteering as one of the key drivers of inflation in this country," Hasan said. "You have to lay it out for the voters, because the facts are on your side."
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.