Break up Kroger and Albertsons if you wanna help with grocery prices. They have no competition so they just keep jacking up prices.
Also digital coupons can go fuck themselves.
this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2024
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I don't know anything about those two chains. Do they have some niche that makes other groceries/super-markets non-competative?
And that’s just the Kroger brands
Alberstons owns another two dozen brands:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertsons#Chains
And has shut down or renamed 4 more.
Kroger and Albertsons own a ton of "other grocery chains." Classic example of just simply buying up the competition
They are trying to merge, to boot. This FTC has stymied it so far, but you can bet your bottom dollar a Trump admin won't.
Grocery is a very low margin business, even at the conglomerate stores.
The food producers are the problem. Cargill is one example.
Them too! Break up all this shit.
No competition? Walmart is their competitors. So is Target.
Hey i need those things
So far, I’m pleased with the advice her campaign seems to be taking. Maybe being “just outside the bubble” has helped her.
We live in capitalism. How do you mandate lower grocery prices in that?
(I guess we find out Friday?)
Having a strong and active FTC working to break apart (almost) monopolistic grocery store chains would be a good start.
Even threatening them with that would be a tiny step in the right direction.
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How do you mandate lower grocery prices in that?
You don't. Price controls don't work and usually backfire in the long run.
Instead, you modify the incentives which exist around prices via taxation. As a simplified example, if you want to prioritize lower prices on staples such as milk, vegetables or beef, then businesses which can show that their margins on those products are within a defined range pay 1% less on corporate taxes. The numbers and ranges would need to be discovered via both study and experimentation. But, by tying a savings for those business to their behavior, said behavior can be influenced. The prices can then be further manipulated lower in the logistical chain, either by direct subsidy or via similar manipulation of incentives to growers and distributors.
We live in capitalism.
Yes, but functional capitalism requires regulation to prevent monopolies, collusion and other activities which distort markets. And there are plenty of areas where capitalism fails and government (read:socialism) needs to step in to provide something which society needs, but for which the incentives do not exist to provide it in an efficient manner. Or for which the efficient providing of that thing creates moral hazards. There is a reason we don't privatize the military.
You break up monopolies
Doesn't she currently know people in positions of power, that could get started, like, NOW.
Biden is currently focused on correcting issues with the Supreme Court
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