Inflation and the poor

Inflation bothers us just a little. Retired, with a home that is paid for, and few grocery bills for just the two of us, it’s not hitting us.

But it is hitting many

But it is hitting many. It’s at a 39-year high, according to CNN Business. And the Federal Reserve’s signals to raise interest rates may hit those already suffering even harder, though I know it’s supposed to help. All of this spells bad news for families just making ends meet or not making them meet at all.

Contribute where you can

So please contribute where you can. The local food bank would be a good place to start. And your community likely has other places where donations of used goods can help. Here in Eureka Springs, one thrift shop helps fund a medical clinic for low-income people, for example. We donate there and shop there when we can. The other thrift shop helps fund the animal shelter, which always is brimming. But as the poor can’t feed their pets, it’s facing even more challenges.

CEO’s and inflation

Now, CNN Business reports that more than half of global CEO’s fear that pricing pressures will be high until mid-2023 or beyond. These executives view inflation as the No. 2 external threat to business, compared with No. 22 a year ago. The top concern remains Covid-19 pressures.

Prices up 7% in December

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday that consumer prices were up 7 percent in December, the highest jump since 1982. This spells bad news for consumers and for elected officials all the way to the White House.

On the manufacturing side

A staggering 95 percent of manufacturing CEOs polled by The Conference Board say they are facing upward pricing pressure on raw materials, wages and other inputs. They pointed to supply chain turmoil, worker shortages and turbulent energy prices.

Supply costs up

The costs charged by suppliers to businesses spiked 9.7 percent, in 2021, the BLS said Thursday. That’s the fastest pace since the government began tracking them in 2010. However, between November and December producer prices ticked up just 0.2%, marking the slowest monthly increase in a year.

CEO’s say their firms aren’t ready

Fewer than 40 percent of CEOs indicated their companies are “well prepared” for an “inflation-related crisis,” the Conference Board survey found.

Cutting costs and hitting consumers

Business leaders plan to deal with inflation by cutting costs and especially by passing it along to consumers in the form of higher prices, the Conference Board said.

“There are currently few signs” that CEOs are willing to “absorb price increases” by allowing them to eat into profit margins, the survey found.

Of course not!

They have shareholders and their own inflated salaries to safeguard.

Country Newspaper

‘It is required of a man that he share the passion and action of his time, at peril of being judged not to have lived.” In the blog that follows I hope to live up to those words from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. This quote always appeared on my father's editorial page.