this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 286 points 11 months ago (15 children)

Cool. So what’s he gonna do about it? Or was this it?

[–] [email protected] 104 points 11 months ago (12 children)

What can he do about it? We live in a free market society. All he can do is keep talking about it and hope the people get the message. Rebellion will start at the consumer level and go up, not the other way around. Main problem is the millions of people that rely on Fox for their news.

[–] [email protected] 154 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Use the anti monopoly laws we have in place to prevent price gouging from lack of competition

[–] [email protected] 139 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

He issued an executive order in 2021 to do just that, among many other things to promote competition. There has definitely been an uptick in antitrust cases since then, and inflation has also decreased significantly.

https://www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-case-filings

[–] [email protected] 42 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Sorry to be pedantic on the internet (lol) but it might be more accurate to say inflation has slowed.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Up like a rocket down like a parachute.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Except the unfortunate part is that it is always increasing, it's just a derivative, rate of change. But the massive boost from months of heavy inflation is now here permanently, so we're adding 2-3% on TOP of the already-inflated costs. But that's not telling the full story, it is the value of the US dollar going down primarily. Buying power is lower by definition, but because of that, everyone on the bottom end is getting squeezed beyond anything they are ready for and it's going to eventually cause civil unrest on a larger scale.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's exactly the point of my analogy. Wtf.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Parachutes come down, Inflation just goes up slower.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (8 children)

He picked two points in time and described a number that was fixed at each instance, so decreased works fine.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Burn the pedant!

I still think decreased is accurate though, the rate of inflation is significantly smaller today vs then, so the rate has decreased

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Yeah if it was deflation that would’ve been a huge deal because our economy is built on an inflationary assumption and deflation would crash it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

The bipartisan PPP (passed under Trump) was insane.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago

lets add taxing the shit out of people who do this to the list.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How would you like the President of the United States to do that? Do you think the President is a dictator that can just unilaterally pass sweeping legislation? How do you think the public would react if the President had the power to directly determine the prices of goods? How do you think that would go in general?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

The fact this is even in the negatives a tiny bit really demonstrates the typical political intelligence of your average voter.

You’re of course completely correct, and Biden has indeed done everything he LEGALLY can do, which is probably why we’re suffering far less than a lot of the rest of the developed world economically speaking.

People just like to shout at the wind, it seems.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Damn there is nothing the government can do. Sorry guys :( You'll just have to buy less food, and maybe then the corporations will get the hint!

Regulations? Laws against price gauging? Naw, they can't do that. It's the consumers that are at fault!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Do you think Biden makes the laws? Did you fail civics class? I said nothing about enacting laws making what these companies are doing illegal, I only said Biden can’t do much about it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

He can propose laws to the legislative bramch. He might not be able to pass it himself but he could push and advocate for it

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (7 children)

I'm sure the GOP-led house would be very receptive to that

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Price controls are well within the president's powers. It's not that radical of a concept.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's within congress's powers for sure. I don't think the president. Congress has done it in the past though, so they for sure can again.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Why is this upvoted?

No, the president of the United States cannot unilaterally implement price controls on goods without the involvement of Congress. Price controls typically involve changes to laws and regulations, which fall under the legislative branch's authority. Congress would need to pass legislation granting such powers or specifically authorizing the president to implement price controls in certain circumstances.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The US was pretty good about taxing corporations before Reagan

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Biden can't set tax rates.

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[–] pan_troglodytes 27 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

that was basically it. short of siccing the irs on them there's not a lot the executive branch can do about it... of course that'd kill the golden goose named "campaign contributions", so it wont happen

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

siccing the IRS on them

Nothing the IRS can do, either.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Windfall taxes is a thing they can use. If companies raise their prices too fast the excess profit gets taxed at a higher rate.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Need the House for that tho.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It will be harder to pass new laws in the current Congress, but he still has control over the executive branch. Hopefully some existing laws could be used.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

He appointed the most aggressive FTC head in decades who is using the antitrust law we have to currently go after Google and Amazon.

She's also fighting a merger between Kroger and Albertsons, which would drastically raise grocery prices.

The FTC is also fighting the hedge fund buyout of preciously independent healthcare clinics, which has massively ramped up medical costs.

Not to mention breaking the real estate agent fee monopoly.

His executive branch has been busy as hell trying to help people.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Don't tell us facts. We've already decided to believe whatever the fuck we want regardless. /s

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Biden should be waving the magic wand! I am mad that he is not doing this!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

He'll hire their execs to run various government agencies

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