When the European vassals decided to kill themselves
#eu #europe #energy #naturalgas #economy #compare #prices #european #vassalage is #poverty
#prices
#Brexit #ImportCharges may mean rise in #food #prices, say trad-e groups | Food & drink industry | The Guardian
Food would be cheaper, they lied...
#Greedflation: #corporate #profiteering ‘significantly’ boosted global #prices, study shows | #Inflation | The Guardian
https://www.commondreams.org/news/sanders-pharma-ceos
#Sanders, #Dems Invite #Pharma $CEOs to Testify on Sky-High #Drug #Prices
JAKE JOHNSON
Nov 21, 2023
..."U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and every Democratic member of the committee he chairs sent letters on Tuesday inviting the CEOs of three major pharmaceutical companies to testify at an upcoming hearing on the nation's prescription drug costs, which are so high that millions of Americans are forced to ration their medications to save money.
"The American people have a right to know why it is that they pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs while the pharmaceutical industry in the U.S. makes hundreds of billions in profits and pays their CEOs tens of millions of dollars in compensation," Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said in a statement.
In letters to the top executives of Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanders and his Democratic colleagues asked, "How does it happen that one out of four Americans cannot afford to take the medicine their doctors prescribe while prescription drug companies make billions in profits and pay their executives exorbitant compensation packages?"
"How does it happen," the letters continue, "that the median price of new prescription drugs in the United States was over $220,000 last year, while the pharmaceutical industry spent billions on stock buybacks and dividends?"
...
The hearing—titled "Why Does the United States Pay, By Far, the Highest Prices in the World for Prescription Drugs?"—is set to take place on January 25, 2024."
#Amazon Used Secret ‘Project Nessie’ #Algorithm to Raise #Prices
The algorithm was able to track how much Amazon’s power in the e-commerce field would get competitors to move their prices, and in instances in which competitors didn’t move their prices, the algorithm would return Amazon’s prices back down, according to the Journal.
(I don't link to the original source the "Wall Street Journal" because of the paywall.)
Amazon is #neoliberalism in its final stage. It is no longer about manufacturing #costs and fair prices, but only about how to eliminate the #competition with low prices or how high you can rip off your own customers.
#economy #fail #customer #price #online #marketplace #internet #scam #crime #ftc #news #technology #business
So....
Shell Reports Highest Profit in 115 Years
No surprise oil co's are profiting hand over fist now, with record high consumer prices, and associated all-time profits. Well, 115 yeqrs.
I'm still chewing on that 115 year stat. Comparing 2023 with 106 years ago? What were gas prices and profit margins like then?
The Model T Ford appeared in 1908, and Shell's record profits came in ... 1908!
Coincidence? True, 'fun fact'.
#Shell #Oil #OilProfits #Profiteering #Consumer #Prices #ShellOil #Petrol
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Are some global decision-makers using hunger to achieve political goals?
#politics #hunger #UN #conspiracy #Dutch #farmers #electricity #prices #Germany #CPI #USA
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hungry-benefits-famine-according-central-planners
What drives #inflation?
source: https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-122-what-drives-inflation
Whereas in recent decades, unit labour costs (wages/productivity) have accounted for 62 percent of price increases and corporate profits for only 11.4 percent, with non-labour input costs (like energy) making up the rest, since 2020 the balance has been reversed. Since the COVID shock in 2020, wages have accounted for less than 8 percent of US price increases, as against corporate profits which accounted for almost 54 percent. Input costs, notably energy, have accounted for 38 percent.
#economy #prices #profit #capitalism #politics #news #money #finance
Millions of #Ghana's #schoolchildren go #hungry during caterers' strike
source: https://www.dw.com/en/millions-of-ghanas-schoolchildren-go-hungry-during-caterers-strike/a-61905655
Striking school cooks in Ghana want a year's backdated salary and an increased feeding allocation. Caterers blame soaring #prices on the #war in #Ukraine. Millions of #children will not be fed until the issues are resolved.
Can the World Feed Itself? Historic #Fertilizer Crunch Threatens #Food #Security
“Fertilizer #prices are up an average of 70% from last year,” said Timothy Njagi, a researcher at the Tegemeo Institute of #Agricultural #Policy and Development in #Kenya, referring to prices in the country. “The fertilizer is available locally, but it’s out of reach for the majority of farmers. Worse, many #farmers know that they cannot recover these costs.”
#Farm #Farmer #problem #future #humanity #humanrights #Nutrition #news #economy #poverty
Big Pharma ~ Time to End Their Greed
https://www.dailyposter.com/follow-the-pharma-money/
#BernieSanders: "The #pharmaceutical #industry has spent more than $4.5 billion on #lobbying and #campaign #contributions over the past 20 years. That's why we pay the #highest #prices on #earth for #prescription #drugs. #Enough-is-enough. Democrats must have the courage to defeat their #greed. The #business #model of the pharmaceutical industry is #fraud. Their greed is literally #killing #Americans. It is absurd that we have people in this country who every day must choose between being able to afford the #medicines they need to stay alive and being able to afford their groceries. It is no exaggeration to say the greed of the pharmaceutical industry is killing people.They have spent billions buying #politicians & several of their #executives became #billionaires during the #pandemic. Their days of calling the shots in #DC must come to an end."
"For years, the story has gone like this: the pharmaceutical industry spends billions lobbying #Congress to do nothing to #lower prescription drug prices, they get their way. 97% of #Democrats, 80% of #Independents and 61% of #Republicans want #Medicare to negotiate with the #pharma #companies to lower prescription drug prices. Our opponents are not only dead wrong on this #policy, they are also way out of touch with what the American people are demanding. Let me ask you a question. Are you satisfied with a #system that allows the pharmaceutical industry to charge you $98 for the same vial of #insulin that the #Canadian people get for about $12? Maybe I am a little bit of a radical, but I happen to think that in the richest country on the face of the #planet, people should not have to be cutting their pills in half or rationing their insulin." Time to end their greed.
#bigpharma #follow-the-money #KurtSchrader-Ore #ScottPeters-Calif #KathleenRice-NY #health #money #favors #quotes
Why US military expenses are so high compared to global rivals
... and the relationship that has with offshoring, outsourcing, globalised processing, and other aspects of trade, shipping, production, and commerce.
You've likely seen examples of goods which are produced in one location, processed in another, and sold in a third, often spanning the globe. Fish shipped from the US to China and back, salt sourced in Pakistan, packed in South Africa, and sold in Canada, and other examples come to mind.
Much of what drives this is 1) the high cost of US and European wages and 2) the low cost of shipping.
This is related to what drives up the cost of US military operations, though that's largely driven by constraints on who can do what and where.
There's a great Reddit thread which breaks down drivers of US military expenses as compared with global rivals China and Russia (or if you prefer, the Taliban), by /u/GTFErinyes:
The metric that the US spends more on their defense budget than other most other nations combined is an extremely superficial look at military spending and mostly pointless as a comparison of power.
Of course the US spends a lot more than China or Russia: there is a vastly different cost of living in the US versus those nations.
To actually understand where/how the US spends on its military, take a look at the DOD Budget Request for 2018 and Table 5.1 from the Government Publishing Office for historical spending.
You'll see the actual budget breakdown:
- Military Wages - $141.7B
- Operations and Maintenance - $223.3B
- Procurement - $114.9B
- Research and Development - $82.7B
- Management - $2.1B
- Military Construction - $8.4B
- Family Housing - $1.4B
- Overseas Contingency Operations (war funds) - $64.6B
That's right - 25% of the base (day to day non-war funds) budget of the DOD is spent on JUST wages (22% if we include funds spent for war operations). That's just military personnel wages - contractor wages fall under the other categories they get contracted for (e.g. maintenance contractors fall under Ops/Maintenance)
Why does this matter? Compare this to China, where their soldiers are paid a tenth of what the US pays its soldiers. Or South Korea, a first world nation with conscription, which pay its soldiers $100 a month.
If the US paid its personnel what the Chinese do, we'd save nearly $130 billion overnight! ...
https://old.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/71bq8h/cmv_the_military_budget_of_the_us_is/dn9mqdq/
The comment continues, with an additional Part 2.
Input costs matter, and where there's price-sensitivity, often-paradoxical behaviours can emerge as a result.
Oh, and: Offshoring is a form of wage suppression.
Inspired by this Diaspora thread.
#offshoring #economics #wages #shipping #globalisation #MiltaryExpenses #military #outsourcing #prices