How to befuddle a lefty.

[KLATTU]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

 

[HIP56948]

Grocery stores and Gas stations.?? If you mean Oil companies and corporate food suppliers, that's a way different conversation.

 

[Cameron]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

It’s cute you think grocery stores determine the price of food.

 

[SNOWFLAKE]

How to befuddle a Rightie.

Ask them "do you ever get off of your high horse and stop blaming EVERYTHING on liberals?"

Watch the confused answers you will get then.

 

[BirdinHand]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

You only started grocery shopping or going to a gas station recently?

Prices go up and down at both - regularly.

And it is odd to see a single store have consistently lower prices than others around them.

The price of a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas doesn’t vary by much more than a few cents, regardless of what end retailer you buy it from.

Nothing “befuddling” about it…at least not for anyone that does regular grocery shopping or fills up their tank at a gas station.

 

[daeler]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

You post a lot of things that really make me wonder if you have any idea on how the economy works.

 

[Cope]

You only started grocery shopping or going to a gas station recently?

Prices go up and down at both - regularly.

And it is odd to see a single store have consistently lower prices than others around them.

The price of a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas doesn’t vary by much more than a few cents, regardless of what end retailer you buy it from.

Nothing “befuddling” about it…at least not for anyone that does regular grocery shopping or fills up their tank at a gas station.

So it's not the seller of the milk, it's the producer of the milk that is greedy?

 

[BirdinHand]

So it's not the seller of the milk, it's the producer of the milk that is greedy?

The USDA sets standard milk pricing.

Been that way since the 1930’s.

How Milk Is Priced in Federal Milk Marketing Orders: A Primer

www.fb.org

Perhaps folks should have an idea what they’re talking about before making posts.

 

[Lovebug]

How to befuddle lefties? That means lefties aren't befuddled, like some people. Interesting.
As for prices, most likely still supply and demand. Droughts and heat have done a number on produce, life stock and feed.
Just my observation.

 

[Port & Starboard]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

Liberals hate paying for their own ideas.

Take a look around this forum. The biggest hate mongering liberals are the one's on here creating threads 24/7.

You know damn well they are living off someone else's dime. They are miserable and resentful because nobody in their right mind would want anything to do with them in the real world.

 

[Michael Cole]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

War on fossil fuel. Keystone pipeline.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

No, but it wouldn't surprise me if commodities traders colluded.

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

Such a befuddling question. Is it English?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If anyone isn't befuddled, it's you. Such an impressive imagination.

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

War on fossil fuel. Keystone pipeline.

 

[soylentgreen]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

Yes, so lets do that and cite examples of why you are wrong.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-yor...-kill-local-small-businesses-article-1.140129

In 2006, the big-box retailer promised to bring jobs to the cash-strapped community. But according to a landmark study by Loyola University, the company's rhetoric didn't match reality: Within two years of Walmart's opening its doors, 82 local stores went out of business.

 

[PoliSciPulse]

The job of a corporation (or any business) is to make money for its shareholders, not its stakeholders (for better or worse). If they can find ways to bend the rules to their advantage so they make even more money, you bet they will. The only way to get corporations at least part way reigned in is to get them to change their focus back to the stakeholders, and as long as Capitalism is in full force with minimal government interference… we won't get that. Bernie is a step too far in my book, as is Warren, bt they definitely have identified the -problem-; I just am not sure that their solution will get the results they want, especially with Warren's 2020 plan to tax assets.

 

[Ambig]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

You got 'em, don't you.

You really really really got 'em now!

 

[StillBallin75]

Liberals hate paying for their own ideas.

Take a look around this forum. The biggest hate mongering liberals are the one's on here creating threads 24/7.

You know damn well they are living off someone else's dime. They are miserable and resentful because nobody in their right mind would want anything to do with them in the real world.

Red states are the one taking in more federal money than they give back. Fact.

Also the hate mongerers reside almost exclusively on the right. Hatred of immigrants, hatred of people of color, hatred of LGBT folk, hatred of atheists or anyone who doesn't adhere to Christian Nationalist nonsense.

 

[Cope]

The USDA sets standard milk pricing.

Been that way since the 1930’s.

How Milk Is Priced in Federal Milk Marketing Orders: A Primer

www.fb.org

Perhaps folks should have an idea what they’re talking about before making posts.

Do they do that for all groceries?

 

[samiam5211]

When you hear a leftwinger pontificating that food ( or gas) prices are so high due to greedy companies just wanting to make record profits just ask them 2 questions.

1) Do you think all grocery stores ( and gas stations) get together and agree to raise prices?

2) If that is all there is to it, why haven't they though of it until the last couple years?

they will probably remove themselves from the conversation and run in another room. You will hear the clacking as they google " robert Reich....greed is bad....BErnie Sanders....Corporate greed."

If they come back , they will recite some lw cliches and slogans and perhaps recite some irrelevant stats. But don't expect a logical answer.

Corporations exist to make as much profit as possible.

Corporate greed is the reason a corporation exists. It's not something that can be disputed. A corporation that is not greedy is failing at it's fiduciary responsibility to it's shareholders.

 

[KLATTU]

How to befuddle lefties? That means lefties aren't befuddled, like some people. Interesting.
As for prices, most likely still supply and demand. Droughts and heat have done a number on produce, life stock and feed.
Just my observation.

Among

Corporations exist to make as much profit as possible.

Corporate greed is the reason a corporation exists. It's not something that can be disputed. A corporation that is not greedy is failing at it's fiduciary responsibility to it's shareholders.

well i guess if that’s how one defines greed that is true.

 

[BirdinHand]

Do they do that for all groceries?

Did I type “milk”? I see it when I read the post…

Did you bother reading the information I posted?

 

[samiam5211]

Among

well i guess if that’s how one defines greed that is true.

yes, i would say that anyone who is concerned about profit above all else is greedy.

 

[vanceen]

...

No, but it wouldn't surprise me if commodities traders colluded.

...

I worked for a company that in one of its divisions (not the one that I was in) sold a basic mineral commodity.

The FTC at one point conducted an investigation because they suspected there may have been collusion in pricing among producers of this commodity. This required my company to spend twelve million dollars over the course of a few years on discovery. Expensive lawyers poring over every e-mail ever written over the course of years and years, that kind of thing.

The FTC dropped the investigation due to lack of evidence. All that money was still gone, and there was no evidence of any collusion.

The moral of the story is that producers of goods do not want to come anywhere within miles of colluding with each other. It's not worth it. If they are found guilty, the fines can drive the company into the ground, and senior managers can spend time in jail.

Anti-competitive legislation has very sharp teeth, and industry knows this. At every industry meeting I took part in that involved competitors, there were lawyers present who could and did rapidly shut down any line of conversation that veered anywhere close to collusion.

During the course of my career, the situation changed on different continents. US developed very aggressive anti-competitive legislation earlier than Europe, but through the '90s European legislation developed that is probably even tougher. Asian competitors were the last to get the message, but my impression is that on the whole, they are on board with fighting anti-competitive collusion.

No senior manager, unless they are absolutely nuts, picks up the phone, calls a competitor, and says "Let's stop undercutting each other". The next stop is jail.

Now producers can, and do, watch what competitors are doing with pricing. If one competitor increases prices by 20%, the other competitors are likely to do the same (depending on their strength in the market). Or they might shoot for a 10% increase and try to take away some of the first competitor's customers. That's just normal competition. But collusion is a strict no-go for any producer who isn't crazy.

 

[Cope]

Did I type “milk”? I see it when I read the post…

Did you bother reading the information I posted?

You didn't need to myopically point out 'milk' when it was rather clear groceries was being discussed.

And then crow about being right, on that myopic point, and completely disregard the sum total of groceries.

So, are grocers, or the producers of those products greedy because they have raised prices (that they say is inflation)?

 

[Michael Cole]

I worked for a company that in one of its divisions (not the one that I was in) sold a basic mineral commodity.

The FTC at one point conducted an investigation because they suspected there may have been collusion in pricing among producers of this commodity. This required my company to spend twelve million dollars over the course of a few years on discovery. Expensive lawyers poring over every e-mail ever written over the course of years and years, that kind of thing.

The FTC dropped the investigation due to lack of evidence. All that money was still gone, and there was no evidence of any collusion.

The moral of the story is that producers of goods do not want to come anywhere within miles of colluding with each other. It's not worth it. If they are found guilty, the fines can drive the company into the ground, and senior managers can spend time in jail.

Anti-competitive legislation has very sharp teeth, and industry knows this. At every industry meeting I took part in that involved competitors, there were lawyers present who could and did rapidly shut down any line of conversation that veered anywhere close to collusion.

During the course of my career, the situation changed on different continents. US developed very aggressive anti-competitive legislation earlier than Europe, but through the '90s European legislation developed that is probably even tougher. Asian competitors were the last to get the message, but my impression is that on the whole, they are on board with fighting anti-competitive collusion.

No senior manager, unless they are absolutely nuts, picks up the phone, calls a competitor, and says "Let's stop undercutting each other". The next stop is jail.

Now producers can, and do, watch what competitors are doing with pricing. If one competitor increases prices by 20%, the other competitors are likely to do the same (depending on their strength in the market). Or they might shoot for a 10% increase and try to take away some of the first competitor's customers. That's just normal competition. But collusion is a strict no-go for any producer who isn't crazy.

Agreed, but I said it wouldn't surprise me, not that they're doing it. Market manipulation (whether by collusion or other means) isn't anything new. The Hunt brothers and silver comes to mind.

 

[vanceen]

Agreed, but I said it wouldn't surprise me, not that they're doing it. Market manipulation (whether by collusion or other means) isn't anything new. The Hunt brothers and silver comes to mind.

It would surprise me enormously, having been in business for a long time.

And what the Hunts did was to try to corner the market in silver, which is not collusion. As you know, it turned out very poorly for them anyway.

 

[Bok Tuklo]

Are there any "gas stations" any longer? Most of what I see are convenience or grocery stores that sell gas.

I know someone who owns a truck stop. He calls the fuel part of the business "trading nickels."