Process
Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Highlights
id545677220
Business groups also maintain that lifting minimum and award wages forces them “to make decisions around passing these costs on, so in the end it ends up with consumers who will pay the bill.” In other words, they claim that higher wages lead to higher prices, leading to a “wage-price spiral.”
id545677210
They also blame rising unit-labor costs as a culprit driving inflation. This refers to productivity, a loaded term implying that employees must continuously work harder than previously for the same wages. If they don’t, businesses insist that they are forced to raise prices to avoid any squeeze on profit margins.
id545677184
inflation is caused by corporate price gouging.
id545677108
Windfall taxes, oligopoly-power reduction, price controls, and direct government investment could all potentially be used to help drive down inflation.
id545677123
The common refrain asserts that these measures are not politically tenable. But to whom? When the government imposed price caps and expanded direct public investment in the energy sector to control inflation, businesses’ grumbling acceptance was telling. It demonstrated that business will only tolerate government intervention if it can clearly see the longer-term benefits for itself — and barely even then.