On Thursday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Last Call,” host Brian Sullivan responded to Democrats attempting to blame price gouging for inflation by noting that the margins for giants Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola have fallen from pre-pandemic levels and noted that the effort by some Senate Democrats would give a huge financial benefit to bureaucrats.
Sullivan began by stating, “Some in Congress wanting to take on shrinkflation. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren (MA), Tammy Baldwin (WI), and Bob Casey (PA), and more re-introducing the Price Gouging Prevention Act. It was originally introduced in the House two years ago. It alleges that corporations have raised prices in order to increase profits while blaming inflation and supply chain issues. Democrats also calling out shrinkflation, where companies shrink the size of their packaging while charging you the same amount. You might have seen President Biden weigh in on this ahead of the Super Bowl.”
After showing part of Biden’s video on the subject, Sullivan said, “So, is it true that big companies are trying to actually make more money post-pandemic? Well, listen, it’s — frankly, it’s impossible to know overall. There are hundreds of thousands of companies, big and small, across America, but we did look at two of the biggest public companies in their respective sector: Procter & Gamble, which makes all kinds of household goods, and Coca-Cola, they make soda and stuff like that. We compared fiscal year 2019, that is pre-pandemic, of course, gross margins, to 2023 margins. PG&E’s margins actually declined a bit. Coca-Cola did as well compared to 2019. Of course, these are just a couple of examples…and, let’s be clear, there are no doubt many big, bad actors out there. But this bill seeks to stop the practice by empowering the FTC and states to enforce a ban against…grossly excessive price increases regardless of a seller’s position on a supply chain. There’s also one little added detail in this bill. It would give an extra $1 billion to the Federal Trade Commission to fund the effort to fight price hikes. If you’ve ever wondered why half the richest counties in America are those surrounding Washington, D.C., that’s probably part of it.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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