CPG Profits

Phil: So what we're seeing is we're seeing people being more cautious about money. But you know, in these times, there's a lot of controversy out there. And I just saw this morning how much money, big oil is enjoying record profits. This is the first quarter profits of this year, shell 9.1 billion Exxon 8.8 billion Chevron, 6.5 billion BP, 6.2 billion and Phillips 4.3 billion. So we're seeing all these big companies, oil making a lot of money, but also we're seeing big food companies make a lot of money what's going on there.

Sally: Yes, I think this is very disheartening for people that are struggling to buy food that they're, you know, they're, they're hearing from Oxfam international that 62 new food billionaires were created during the pandemic. You know, calling out some of them by name cargo, the food company giant is expected to report record profits this year. And so that family has now joined the Bloomberg billionaires list. And so it's, it's really an interesting message that consumers are getting, you know, that, oh, we have to raise prices. Everything is more expensive because you know, of labor shortages and we don't have the supplies and because of, you know, the climate and what's going on in with the Ukraine. But still people are getting very, very wealthy.

Phil: Yeah. And, not everybody, retailers have continued to raise food prices, but farmer profits have remained stagnant or declined for decades. So the farmers aren't making the money, uh, these companies have their record profits. We keep on seeing all the time, you know, these announcements of what these CEOs are taking, down in profit. I just read an article over the weekend where the number two guy at Google, um, 20, I think it's 26.5 billion, a million dollars last year. Um, so for me, what I don't understand is, you know, certainly the government president Biden, everybody is telling these companies, you know, don't raise prices. We have retailers saying, if you're gonna raise prices, you gotta prove it to us. But in the meantime, you would think that with these record profits, what they would do is they'd keep prices low so that consumers don't freak out and, and consumers don't have to, you know, go to the gas station and pay a hundred bucks and it doesn't even fill up your car.

Sally: Yes. And a New York times article recently called it greedflation, you know, and this is when these large co corporations are raising their prices during times of extreme economic crisis. And, you know, when people are having a hard time.

Phil: Yeah. And we could just hope that a lot of these companies either wake up or the government does something, to keep them from doing this.