| Counter-point, profit margins have been consistent for the last ~20 years per financial reports: * https://old.reddit.com/r/ontario/comments/xqigdu/profit_marg... As for "greedflation", see econ professor Trevor Tombe: "Are rising profits fueling inflation?" > Rising grocery prices—the focus of Mr. Singh’s attention—also does not reflect rising profit margins. In fact, food stores and food manufacturing [both have lower profit margins this year than last][0]. > One can even see this in the financial statements of large food retailers. Loblaws, for example, [reported a net profit margin][1] of 3.04 percent in the second quarter of this year and 3.03 percent in the second quarter of last year. Their rising profits are due entirely to rising sales, not increasingly uncompetitive behaviour as some suggest.
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> The entire increase in average markups in Canada are therefore related to rising global energy and commodity prices. […] > There are of course important issues to explore and debate when it comes to the level of competition in certain areas of corporate Canada, and there are also many overlapping causes of rising consumer prices. But when it comes to claims that “greedflation” is a key driver of recently rising inflation rates, the data is very clear: it’s not. * https://thehub.ca/2022-10-14/trevor-tombe-are-rising-profits... * https://twitter.com/trevortombe/status/1580935693672775681 [0] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv!recreate.action?p... [1] https://www.google.com/finance/quote/L:TSE?hl=en |