Corporate greed increasingly seen as ‘major cause’ of inflation: Poll

A new poll found 3 in 5 Americans now say corporate greed is a “major cause” of inflation.

That’s a 15 percent jump to 59 percent from 44 percent in January 2022, according to a new poll from Navigator Research. The left-leaning polling and opinion research group surveyed 1,000 registered voters from Jan. 25-29.

“After more than two years of corporations posting record profits while Americans struggle to balance their checkbooks, it’s no surprise that people increasingly see corporate greed as a problem,” said Maryann Cousens, associate of polling and analytics for Navigator Research.

Inflation hit 7.5 percent year over year in January 2022 and peaked at 9.1 percent 6 months later, as measured by the Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI). Prices have fallen precipitously, with annual inflation clocking in at 3.1 percent in January, but it remains above the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2 percent.

The Fed hiked interest rates from near zero in March 2022 to a range of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent in July 2023, hiking borrowing costs to suppress demand and, the theory goes, inflation. Higher interest rates have eroded savings that were once flush with pandemic-era stimulus, and delinquencies on credit cards, mortgages and car loans have slowly ticked up.

In contrast, companies have been posting large profits even amid rampant inflation. Corporate profits peaked during the third quarter of 2022, when inflation was at its worst, according to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve, which also shows profits remain above pre-pandemic levels.

The phenomenon has gained mainstream traction even as it remains divisive among economists. Dictionary.com announced Tuesday it added the word “greedflation,” defined as “a rise in prices, rents, or the like, that is not due to market pressure or any other factor organic to the economy, but is caused by corporate executives or boards of directors, property owners, etc., solely to increase profits that are already healthy or excessive.”

The share of respondents who said they believe corporate greed causes inflation is now on par with the share who blame inflation on government spending. While the latter position tends to be favored by Republicans, the rise in Americans blaming corporate greed for higher prices spans party lines. 

The share of Democrats and independents who said corporate greed was a “major cause” of inflation increased by 17 percentage points, while the share of Republicans who agree increased by 13 percentage points.

A whopping 84 percent of all respondents said they believe “corporations being greedy and raising prices to make record profits” is a driver of inflation, according to the poll.

Overall, Democrats are still more likely to say that corporate greed is a “major cause” of inflation: 72 percent, according to the new poll, compared to 62 percent of independents and 45 percent of Republicans.

“This is only the latest evidence that an economic platform which puts workers ahead of CEOs and corporations is a popular, cross-partisan way to address the things Americans still worry about the most: the cost of living and inflation,” Cousens said.

While Americans are more optimistic about their financial situation than they’ve been since the pandemic started in 2020, according to data released Monday by the New York Fed’s Center for Microeconomic Data, they aren’t necessarily sold on President Biden’s handling of the economy heading into the election.

Biden’s approval rating languishes at 41.2 percent, according to polling averages analyzed by Decision Desk HQ/The Hill. In a hypothetical general election match-up against former President Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump has a 2.2 percent lead.

Trump had an 11-point lead over Biden on the question of who would better handle the economy, a recent Financial Times poll found.