this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024

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No Stupid Questions

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618

What is an average person living in the US supposed to do about corporations raising prices? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by DichotoDeezNutz@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

448 comments fedilink hide all child comments

They keep raising prices, stating that it's due to inflation, but then they keep having record profits.

Meanwhile, the average American can barely afford rent or food nowadays.

What are we to do? Vote? I have been but that doesn't seem to do much since I'm just voting for a representative that makes the actual decisions.

(page 4) 50 comments

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[–] qwertyWarlord@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Wow, some terrible answers in here. Look, dumb answers like steal, riot or "eat the rich" don't do anything. You all sitting there acting like internet keyboard warriors literally does nothing to solve this issue so wake up and get a grip.

To answer op's question, the only thing one can do is not engage with it. Price increases or not it's still a free market and you do have choices on what you buy. You don't need a new truck, or phones or organic eggs or whatever they want to sell you. Take care of yourself, learn to be budget conscious, work on your career and your own journey and ignore the rest, it's noise. Truly if you're underwater and can't afford to live where you are, move. There are places in every state that remain cheap. Food should not be a problem in this country. Everyone can afford $50-100 a week for food and you can stay in that budget if you learn what to buy and what to make with it. If everyone did that it'd be far more effective than rioting or stealing or any other dumb response.

[–] harsh3466@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I mostly agree with you, but I think it’s naive to suggest people under financial hardship can just up and move. Moving is a huge burden in both time and money. It also doesn’t consider finding new job(s), uprooting a family, and that while moving to a cheaper area lowers cost, it generally also lowers wages.

It’s also naive to suggest everyone has $50-$100 a week they can spend on food. There are lots of people who don’t have $50-$100 a month to spend on food.

The people who are suffering most under these economic conditions are the people who have the least ability to take themselves or their money elsewhere.

Edit: grammar

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[–] pete_the_cat@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Bend over and take it. We can vote corrupt people out, but they generally just get replaced by the same people that can be swayed by lobbyists.

I'm sick right now and went to buy cold medicine... It's fucking TWENTY DOLLARS for a 12 ounce bottle of Vick's Cold and Flu medicine here in Miami. Pretty much every other brand was between $15-25. There was a pack of DayQuil that was $6... It had like 5 doses in it and you're supposed to take it every 4 hours, so like a day's worth... For $6.

A few weeks ago I had to buy laxatives and it was the same thing, everything was $17-$40! I almost shit myself when looking at the prices 🤣

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[–] fne8w2ah@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

If you have the knowledge, means and time, make your own stuff.

[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

What is an average person living in the US supposed to do about corporations raising prices?

Ask their boss for a raise.
Switch jobs if they don't get the raise.
If they can't switch jobs, go to school and get an education in a different career path, then go back to step one.

(On a side note, never stay at the same place more than a couple of years, always be changing and working on your career. It's the best way to gain more wealth, so you can handle companies raising prices better.)

And before you hate on me for expressing the above, just realize I'm stating what the realities are, I'm not the one who created Capitalism.

I personally believe in regulations, including the regulation of wealth, but unfortunately we as citizens don't seem to be able to elect people to office to pass those kind of laws.

I honestly wonder if FDR would be able to pass the 'New Deal' in today's environment.

For me personally? What's worked is being frugal in my spending, rewarding good companies with my monies.

It's allowed me to accumulate some amount of wealth over the years, and I'm doing my small part to help foster a better society.

No one person can make the change, but we all together can make the change.

[–] jessca@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Prices aren't coming down. Our financial systems are built around inflation and drastic measures will be taken to fight deflation.

You can only reduce expenses so far. As purchasing power fell, steak was replaced with ground beef, and ground beef is getting replaced with beans and rice. What can replace beans and rice? Already, too many people are having sleep for dinner.

The answer is both simple and difficult: we need to get paid more.

[–] ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip 4 points 9 months ago

The answer is "vote" but not just once. Not just for federal elections. Every election, you should be there. Show up to candidate forums and bother your current electeds.

Every government is like a ship of various size, it takes a while to see the turn even start, let alone have the course actually get corrected. The bigger the government, the harder it can be to get long lasting positive change accomplished. (This isn't a "small government is better" thing either, it's just how large organizations work.)

If you can, run for office. If you can't, find someone you trust who can and support them. Not just Congress or president or governor. City council, county government, school board, on and on...

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