Former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich Said Inflation Mainly Driven By This Rather Than Government Spending

University of California, Berkeley Professor and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich said, in December 2022, that corporate greed, and not government spending, was the main driver of inflation and highlighted a big oil company's recent earnings to drive his point.

“Exxon Mobil Corp XOM raked in $20 billion in profits last quarter and has announced $50 billion in stock buybacks. Folks, corporate greed is a main driver of inflation — not government spending,” he said in his tweet.

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Last week, Reich questioned why inflation reporting does not mention record corporate profits.

Why It Matters: Talks about inflation and rate hikes are again gathering momentum as investors are now turning their attention toward the release of the consumer price inflation and the Federal Reserve meeting. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY closed 0.75% lower on Dec.9, 2022, while the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF BND ended 0.58% lower.

Reich’s concerns over corporate profits echo President Joe Biden's criticism of energy companies when he said in November that big oil firms had a responsibility to act beyond the interests of their executives and shareholders with the "historic" profits made from surging oil prices.

This story was originally published on Dec. 12, 2022.

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