House Democrats yesterday blamed corporate greed, market concentration and Wall Street investor pressure for contributing to rising prices during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on inflation, The Hill reported. The committee’s Democrats and Republicans traded blame over the root causes of the worst inflation the U.S. has seen in four decades as the price of gas, food, housing, cars and common household goods has skyrocketed. “Right now, we’re seeing big corporations take advantage of economic conditions and a lack of real competition to pass higher prices onto consumers simply because they can,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the committee’s chairwoman. Several Democrats and committee witnesses cited the highest corporate profit margins in 70 years and earnings calls where executives said customers were more willing to accept price hikes due to the current inflationary environment. They referred to January remarks from a Constellation Brands executive who told investors that the company wants to "make sure that we're not leaving any pricing on the table. We want to take as much as we can." They quoted a Proctor and Gamble executive who said that the company sees "a lower reaction from the consumer in terms of price elasticity than what we would have seen in the past."
