Profit margins are becoming a key controversial issue in the inflation discourse 🤬

Why are companies still charging high prices for stuff? 🤨

A weird AI-generated image of people arguing about inflation.

Has Corporate America been paying its fair share of the inflation that everyone’s experiencing?

“Fair” is a loaded term, and I’m not going to claim to have a good definition for it in this context.

But as more people become familiar with the way inflation has been passing through companies, there’s likely to be more people arguing that companies have not been picking up enough of the slack.

It’s an issue that was raised by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Tuesday during Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s semiannual appearance before Congress. Bloomberg’s Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal have been all over it in their recent reporting.

Let’s get into it.

Why consumers might’ve been okay with paying up 🤷🏻‍♂️

Despite high inflation, record-high spending figures show consumers have been willing to pay up for goods and services.

But sentiment data continue to show consumers aren’t thrilled about how much more they’re spending these days.

With this being the case, why haven’t consumers pushed back more aggressively?