Mark Alford (r) [2024 file photo].

Mark Alford
[September 30, 2024)
Will someone please explain to me…. Maybe a progressive Democrat out there…. Which stores are “price gouging” customers and and on what particular products? Only facts please. Go!!!

There is much hilarity in the responses:

I don’t see a single mention of investors in this long list of finger pointing in the comments. While companies are posting record profits, they are controlled and dominated by investors that they have to appease. Dig deep and look far because these investors own everything in the entire supply chain, from our retirement funds, manufacturing, and the entire global supply chain. The three notable investment groups have infiltrated the government and are also the major shareholders of our military supply chain and are dominating the world at this very moment but yet society thinks this is a partisan issue.
We can live with one eye closed or we can open our eyes and see the world for what it really is. Everyone needs to wake up

many corporations are posting record profits and it’s not necessary to list them all. That’s for you to take the time and look them up and see who their Majority Shareholders are because it’s all linked.
The automotive sector would be a good place for you to start

All of them. It’s not rocket science. It’s not political. It’s corporate greed.

Mark Alford you are driving the wedge between American people with this rhetoric. That’s what politicians do. If you’re not doing that, then explain to me how almost every business has produced record profits over the last 5 years without price gouging?
FYI – I’m not a dem/progressive, just someone who completely hates where this Republican Party is headed.

this is exactly why I’m switched my registration from Republican to Independent. This Trump party is not the Republican Party. You support at cheater, adulteress, fraud and a con man all under the name of the good lord…. Call me what you want…

Andy Groff a Kroger senior director for pricing said during the FTC trial that Kroger purposely raised the price eggs and milk to above inflation level. Is that not considered price gouging? If they admitted doing it to eggs and milk do you not think that they did it to other foods as well? And that other stores did as well?

JD Vance was at a grocery store talking about prices of eggs being $4 a dozen or higher (he may have not been talking about gouging but just inflation) when the tags in the eggs behind him were $2

So, he had egg on his face? Just asking.

Mark, as you know, a lot of this is to create hate and fear. Yes, prices have gone up on almost everything. Some have gone up excessively. Sometimes that is how the free market works. I would say that most of the increase, right or wrong, is a result from increased wages. Everybody wants a bigger piece of the pie and then complains because prices are raised to cover this added expense.

Mark Alford But you know we had quarters of up to 6% during the last few years, right?
That’s over 100% what grocery stores historically have made.
The Kroger CEO recently admitted under oath to the FTC that he had kept prices artificially high.
How is it that I know this and you don’t, or are you feigning ignorance?

Okay folks, Congressman Alford asked for facts only, not rants. The definition of price gouging is simple. When a company takes advantage of the consumer because of a circumstance beyond the consumers control. They jack up prices for no other reason than greed. We saw this a lot during 2020.

Cars
Housing
Food
Interest rates
There’s no longer a supply issue, companies are just operating like there are.

and when has anyone changed their mind about anything from a Facebook post, never.
You want to see facts, do your own homework, nothing is free.
Play your game sir, everyone is watching and notating.

Price gouging is what happens -when the demand is greater than the supply and the supply returns – yet the price remains at the higher price because people still bought it mostly because they need it and have to have it – the rationale of business/coros is the marketing bearing the increased price so why lower it back down

Are you referring to how the Kroger’s executive admitted to the FTC that the store raised prices way beyond inflation level? Examples give were eggs and milk? Do you not think other stores have done this as well and with things other than eggs and milk?

There are many things that cause inflation including fuel costs, regulations, and easy money. One area that has hit comsumers is credit card debt where interests rates are running at 20 to 30 percent, also fees are being charged at places when making purchases and credit card companies are charging higher fees on businesses when cards are used

Look no farther then the price disparity between the cost of production to the cattle producer, from birth to slaughter and what he is paid per pound for his product and the price the consumer pays for their product.

Do you honestly even care? I used to enjoy watching you in the mornings on the news but now honestly you’re kinda annoying. It has nothing to do with being democrat or republican.

Mark Alford (r) [2023 file photo].

Not stores necessarily, but the big companies are, and the trickle down effect hits the consumer. Look at the profits. Greed, greedy CEO’s. General Mills one example. Maybe research the profits of some these big corporations

Well, the news lately is the cost of weight loss drugs and the record profits they make on the backs of consumers. What I understand is that the cost in the US is around $1,300 per month while the UK is paying around $94 per month.
Price gouging from my perspective is when a company has a monopoly on the market and consumers are dependent on that product/company.
Also, I have done research on Long term care insurance companies who start out with a low premium and with the help of the government approvals, raise that premium to a point where the consumer is dependent on on it or looses their coverage. This happened to us and we learned that some older seniors are paying around $1,800 a month after years of paying into the policy. They are dependent on that insurance company and have to pay it or loose coverage at a point where they may need it soon.
Not a progressive democrat or republican. Im a “Lib-Con”. Liberal on some issues and conservative on others. More of an independent. The 2 party division and rock throwing is what is damaging this country and creating even further division.

Wall to wall. You have plenty of evidence from the work the FTC and FBI have done.
Prove them wrong. Stop posturing. You have all the means to prove those darn progressives wrong. But you can’t. And won’t.

There are some grocery stores that got caught and admitted to gouging. What makes you so sure that more of them are not doing the same.

there’s also a link between anti-trust violations and pricing.
The diaper market has been accused of price fixing because 2 companies control almost 80% of the diaper market allowing them to coordinate on higher pricing..

It’s only been the last year that we have seen any price drops. With all of the stories I have read recently, it seems the only reason prices are coming down at all, is because they are losing customers.
None of us are going to forget the last few years of Quarterly Record Profits though. Big Oil, Big AG, Big Pharma, etc. As long as they keep feeding your campaign though, right? Who cares about the people who put you there.

Note the B is for BILLION
Kroger annual gross profit for 2024 was $33.364B, a 4.99% increase from 2023.
July 2024, Trader Joe’s’s annual revenue reached $501B.
As of September 2024, Price Chopper Supermarkets-Market 32’s annual revenue is projected to be $501 billion.
And you can keep researching …… it goes on and on.
FYI, I am not a progressive democrat. Lol

This online store is price gouging it’s customers on products that went out of style a couple of decades ago.
[Trump Store Watch]

For the win.

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

[….]
There’s one – under oath testimony – among evidence that prices were artificially inflated when called to explain how profits were much higher than they should be based on supply chain, material goods, production, etc.
Mark – maybe you can explain to me before I actually try to go digging on things that are actually YOUR homework (if you want an actual answer), not mine.
How do you explain record profits across several sectors of companies if they were making the same approximate rates that they had been prior to the inflation, if they were not overcharging?
See, I think most folks recognize that when inflation went high, things went up – and you are well aware of all the reasons why. However, when inflation began to come down, the prices didn’t….and didn’t…..and didn’t……
Until finally people stopped making purchases on some of the goods and suddenly in the last few months we have grocery stores, big box stores and fast food all ‘slashing prices’ to gain more business back.
Isn’t that an indicator they never needed to charge so much in the first place?
Or do you have another explanation? If you do, I would love to hear it.
Also – Housing is another HUGE issue – supply and demand is obviously at play, but when a smaller group owns a larger part of the options and can jack prices up – that’s been hurting folks.