Socialist Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders once again attempted to hit capitalism, despite his own party’s inefficiency of curbing inflation. He claimed businesses are making big profits and raising prices at the same time.
Bernie Sanders against US businesses
On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders criticized McDonald’s, Amazon, and Starbucks for raising prices and bagging profits. Accusing these companies of a “corporate greed” problem, Sanders stated these companies are raising prices, despite getting unprecedented profits.
These corporate giants already announced the primary reason for their price hike was inflation, which has marred the whole country in recent times.
McDonald said last month it was bound to raise its prices by almost six percent, due to the surging inflation across the country.
@BernieSanders rips @McDonalds, @Starbucks, and @amazon for ‘corporate greed’ as they raise prices: https://t.co/3U3B1WpPnk
— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) February 22, 2022
According to the fast food chain giant, inflation is impacting the restaurant in the form of increased labor prices, raw beef, and shipping costs. Likewise, McDonald’s asserted the worsening supply chain crisis is one of the primary reasons for increasing food prices.
Starbucks also commented across the same lines. Earlier in February, the coffee shop chain announced it would raise its prices soon.
This marks the third time the coffee giant is raising its prices in the last four months. Despite Sanders’ accusations against these companies, the food prices have been rising across the United States in various sectors.
According to the Consumer Price Index data, quick-service sector restaurants saw an eight percent price hike last year.
Growing prices by Amazon were also not perceived lightly by the Democrat senator. Recently, Amazon raised its prime subscription price from $119 to $139 per year, which triggered the socialist senator.
According to Bernie Sanders, McDonald’s is enjoying a 59 percent profit increase, compared to last year, a number released by the company in its financial statement.
In addition to that, Starbucks also reported big profits in its last quarterly earnings report, according to which the company amassed 19 percent more profit, compared to January 2021.
Similarly, Amazon’s profit disclosure suggests it made $14.3 billion in February, which is roughly double the amount the company made a year earlier.
Reportedly, Amazon just had the most successful Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales last year in the history of the company; this prompted the likes of Sanders to revolt against the companies.
Inflation is likely to soon increase even further
Businesses believe raising the prices of their goods and services is the only way to remain sustainable in the long run, which is inevitably true.
This price hike is likely to get severe in forthcoming times for many reasons, the foremost of which is the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Shipping prices can skyrocket soon, as oil already started reaching as high as $100 per barrel.
Oil prices rose closer to $100 a barrel this morning amid concerns about supply disruption after Moscow ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine https://t.co/AURT5MakHe
— The Times (@thetimes) February 22, 2022
Thus, experts believe it could increase the already strained supply chain woes, which will eventually force businesses to raise their prices and pass the burden onto consumers.
