Team Biden needs to lean in hard on “Greedflation”

Inflation caused by corporate greed!

There’s no denying that polls consistently find that the top issues for the 2024 election include economy and inflation —as a CBS poll released Sunday did as well. A May ABC News poll found that 85% of poll participants said inflation is an important issue. Even the left leaning Data For Progress has found that the economy—and especially inflation—are consistently the top concerns for voters heading into this election.

Of course, what these polls don’t measure is the intensity voters feel on the issue. For example, while abortion access didn’t make the top issues in Sunday’s CBS poll, we know that since Donald Trump’s GOP Supreme Court justices were able to end a women’s constitutional right to an abortion in 2022, the issue has motivated voters in huge numbers in state after state to come out to protect women’s health.  And that issue will certainly animate a big chunk of voters in the 2024 election—especially given Trump on Monday pledged to a right wing group that loudly advocates for a total abortion ban, “I know where you’re coming from and where you’re going. And I’ll be with you, side by side.” If Trump wins and the GOP controls Congress, they will 100% impose a national abortion ban.

But still for so many of our fellow Americans, higher inflation is a motivating election issue because it truly hurts them and their families. And while price increases have slowed significantly from a peak a few years ago of about 9%, the lower current inflation rate of 3.4% means that is on top of the earlier jumps in prices.  Again, this is causing real pain for families—which contributes to recent polling that found a majority of Americans believe the economy is in a recession—when in reality we have low unemployment, GDP growth, job creation, etc.

That is why the GOP is leaning into this issue as, “Bidenflation.”  One GOP Senator—echoing the Republican line—put it this way: “For the last three years the American people have been ravaged by inflation. That inflation, like all inflation, is man-made. That man’s name is Joe Biden.”

There is no easy solution to bring prices down. If there were Biden and the Democrats would’ve done it already.  But some Democrats running for Senate have found success on the issue. They are making it clear to voters that the reason for the jump in prices is not Bidenflation, but Greedflation.

As the NY Times detailed recently, Democratic Senators and candidates in six states such as Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey and Montana’s John Tester have leaned in hard in blaming corporations for the price spikes. And in all six races, they are not only leading—but running ahead of where Biden is polling.

In one ad, Sen. Sherrod Brown tells Ohio voters, “I’ll never stop fighting to crack down on corporate greed.”  Brown’s focusing on this issue is contributing to why he is ahead of his GOP opponent by five points despite Biden trailing Trump by close to ten points.

In Pennsylvania—a must win state for Biden—Democratic Senator Bob Casey has made slamming corporate greed a cornerstone of his campaign with ads that talk about corporate “greedflation” and “shrinkflation.”  In one ad, set to “Pink Panther” type music, fictional corporate executives are seen sneaking around a supermarket at night to shrink product sizes. Casey is up by five in the average of polls while Biden trails Trump by two points in Pennsylvania.

The reason the Greedflation argument resonates is because voters believe it. In a February poll, nearly 60% of voters said corporate greed was a “major cause” of inflation, including 72% of Democrats, 62% of independents and even 45% of Republicans.  Indeed, they should feel that way given a recent study by Groundwork Collaborative—as Fortune magazine reported--found corporate profits drove 53% of inflation during the second and third quarters of 2023.  As the study notes, that’s a huge jump from the four decades prior to the pandemic, when profits drove just 11% of price growth.

For example, Procter & Gamble this summer boasted of an $800 million profit increase, “thanks to falling commodity costs that it would not pass on to consumers.” In other words, despite their costs going down, they kept prices high to increase profits. In fact, corporations that sell to consumers are seeing record profits given that they have jacked up prices despite wholesalers’ prices that have remained the same or even fallen. The study noted that if were not for this corporate greed, inflation now would be at or below 2% a year.

It's true Biden has touched on this issue in recent months. During a CNN interview in May, Biden slammed “corporate greed” saying that, “If you take a look at what people have, they have the money to spend. It angers them and angers me that you have to spend more.” He added, “That’s corporate greed. And we have got to deal with it.” And a little over a week ago, Biden told an audience in Philadelphia, “We’re taking on corporate greed to bring down the price of gas, food and rent, eliminating junk fees.”

But Biden has not made this a central theme in 2024, which has prompted progressive grassroots organizations to rightfully press the Biden campaign to do more. April Verrett, the president of the Service Employees International Union, told the NY Times last week, “It’s a winning message for Democrats,” as she pointed to Senate candidates like Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey’s strong polling numbers.  And Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer of Nevada’s Culinary Workers Union, shared what they heard when speaking to Nevada voters, “What resonates with working-class voters is price gouging,” adding, “Big oil and big food are going to have to get reined in.”

The tension is that Biden—as the NY Times detailed--still has a close relationship with corporate interests. But this is a real issue in key swing states where recent polls found 56% think a Trump presidency would usher in lower inflation.

In reality, Trump’s proposals would make inflation much worse—such as his call for a 60% tariff on all Chinese goods and a 10% increase on all imports to the United States. This makes all imports higher in cost, with a recent study finding Trump’s proposal would cost the average family at least $1,700 more a year.

Democrats in the 2024 election have the issues on our side from protecting abortion to protecting democracy to saving lives from gun violence and more. Same goes for greedflation.

Slam corporate greed for the pain it has caused people. Not just because it’s good politics, but because it’s the truth. Perhaps if companies feel the wrath of the public, they will rein in their prices. But given the importance of this issue to so many fellow Americans, silence will be filled by Republicans claiming this is all Bidenflation when in reality it’s caused by the GOP’s wealthy donors who run the big corporations.

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