I typically try to shy away from writing on what crazy lefties on MSNBC are saying because I find it uninteresting, but it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving and the current news cycle resembles a desert with tumbleweeds gently rolling by.
Plus, the last time I wrote something on MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, Fox News’ Harris Faulkner put it on air so buckle up because we’re doing this (see The Most Tone-Deaf Response to the Inflation Crisis Imaginable Goes Forth). Even still, sometimes these hosts say something that points to a bigger, more pervasive issue that’s worth discussing. That happened this week when Ruhle decided to opine on the inflation crisis by insisting that businesses don’t have to raise prices just because production costs are up.
Remember that this person has written before about how consumer inflation doesn’t matter because they have enough money. This is an authentic woman with a pulse on middle America.
Just bc input costs go up…that does NOT mean a business must raise prices to customers.
You can’t do it automatically— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) November 24, 2021
The stock market price for it is at an all-time high
The demand is extremely strong
The Biz is GrowingIt is not a charity – nowhere near a charity.
It’s a biz & businesses decide what their priorities are
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) November 24, 2021
I’ve been told that Ruhle has a background in finance, though, I’m not sure she learned much. A strong demand does not automatically mean you are able to absorb any price increases in production materials. This applies whether we’re talking about food service, manufacturing or even parts for service providers. Perhaps there are some cases where a major corporation might have the walking-around money to not pass on short-term cost increases, but that’s not sustainable as a market strategy. Ruhle realizes this and chooses not to talk as though all businesses were charities that have endless, massive cash flows.
The biggest disconnection from reality is her assertion about stock market prices going up. Ruhle will not like this, but most of the businesses that are being hurt by rising producer costs inflation in this country are small. They lack stocks. They don’t have a lot of money in their bank accounts. There’s a reason some of the most jarring inflation we’ve seen is in the local restaurant industry. My experience is that every restaurant in my area has increased their prices by several dollars within the past year.
Imagine the amount of elitism it takes to snark at the inflation woes of small businesses (largely caused by government incompetence and over-spending) by shouting “well, stocks are up!” And for a lot of businesses out there that have borne the brunt of a long stretch of draconian COVID-19 measures, their business isn’t necessarily “growing” either. These businesses are struggling to survive after suffering huge losses in the past two years because of government intervention.
Ruhle may be right in one way. This does ultimately come down to what a business chooses to prioritize, and last I checked, that priority is almost universally…staying in business. But Ruhle doesn’t have to worry about that. For reading a teleprompter for a low-rated cable news program, Ruhle gets millions. She might want to keep her current lane.
But in the end, it’s not just Ruhle who’s saying stuff like this. These statements are straight from the White House, Democrat senators and others who seek to justify their failings by blaming private industry. And while I’m not a big fan of a lot of these major corporations, the reality is that the current inflation boom is affecting everyone. You cannot stop price increases by virtue-signaling on Twitter — though, Ruhle is certainly going to try.
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