Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds | Inflation | The Guardian

"A new report claims “resounding evidence” shows that high corporate profits are a main driver of ongoing inflation, and companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop.

The report, compiled by the progressive Groundwork Collaborative thinktank, found corporate profits accounted for about 53% of inflation during last year’s second and third quarters. Profits drove just 11% of price growth in the 40 years prior to the pandemic, according to the report.

Prices for consumers rose by 3.4% over the past year, but input costs for producers increased by just 1%, according to the authors’ calculations, which were based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and National Income and Products Accounts.

“Costs have come down substantially, and while corporations were quick to pass on their increased costs to consumers, they are surprisingly less quick to pass on their savings to consumers,” Liz Pancotti, a Groundwork strategic adviser and paper co-author, said."

Continue reading the article online (contribution may be required)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/us-inflation-caused-by-corporate-profits

Direct link to report referenced ->

https://groundworkcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/24.01.17-GWC-Corporate-Profits-Report.pdf

The Groundwork Collaborative thinktank found prices for consumers rose by 3.4% over the past year, but input costs for producers increased by just 1%. Illustration: The Guardian

Washington Post: "Corporate America is coming around to remote work"

"Nearly two years after millions of Americans became abruptly acquainted with Zoom, questions about what the post-pandemic office will look like can be answered with a quick look around: It’s already here.

The case for the functionality of remote work has largely been settled: The wheels of productivity continued to hum on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley and other corporate strongholds even as their sprawling offices lay vacant. Employees stayed home and learned how to live at work. And throughout 2021, profits rolled in.

Corporate leaders attempting to coax employees back to the office have largely accepted the inevitability of the hybrid work model — a strategy buttressed by the reality of raging coronavirus rates, a tight labor market and the nation’s more than 10 million job openings. Now they are learning to leverage its benefits, according to Adam Galinsky, a professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia Business School in New York. That includes more flexibility and less time commuting for employees, and lower real estate and operating costs for companies."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/15/remote-work-omicron/

Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York on Jan. 4. Wall Street’s push to refill office towers across the country was recently derailed by the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus. (Amir Hamja/Bloomberg)