When We'll See Light at the End of the Inflation Tunnel
While price increases will probably stick, consumers should get years of stability after costs fall for industry.
Raising prices: It’s what companies do.
Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
There's understandably a lot of concern about inflation — and consumers want to know who to blame for it. U.S. companies are showing that they've got pricing power and know how to use it in this environment. That makes them an easy target for consumers — and politicians' — ire. But for the most part they're merely raising prices to keep up with their own higher costs. If consumers are going to get relief from inflation, it has to start with companies getting relief of their own.
The companies in industries where prices and profit margins have gone up the most — which some say is due to "corporate greed" — are the industries that haven't been able to maintain production because of supply-chain problems, such as homebuilders and automakers. Companies in both industries are planning to increase production by double digits in 2022 — if supply chains can handle it.