Kamala has unveiled her economic plan. Put the veil back on it, please. Under the concocted fabrication of price gouging, she is seeking excuses to justify gouging corporate profits.

She has been appropriately labelled as a chameleon, but as she pretends to distance herself from Bidenomics, perhaps “hermaphrodite” also applies (in the sense of something in which two opposite qualities are confusingly combined).

That’s because she plans to propose a federal ban on food and grocery price gouging, something Biden was always harping on about. In reality (a realm the chameleon-cum-hermaphrodite doesn’t occupy), it is great American companies operating on a flexible and streamlined business model that she intends to gouge.

Let’s just cut straight to the bottom line -- i.e., net profit margins.

In her socialist mindlessness, it is not foolhardy tax-and-spend policies by drunken Dems (let’s not keep offending our great “drunken” sailors), but corporate greed that is exacerbating inflation. What follows is a representative list of companies in the food and grocery business that Kamala mistakenly (or worse, deceptively) believes are extorting excessive profits.

• Kroger is the largest grocer in the United States. As can be seen here (bottom graph -- net margin), Kroger’s net margin, effective 4/30/2024, was a paltry 1.43%. That’s actually lower than in 2018/2019, when inflation was tame. In other words, price gouging is not a scapegoat -- inflation went up, but Kroger’s profit margins remained relatively stable, if not lower.
• Pepsico (maker on many wondrous products), had a net profit margin in early 2024 that was also below 2018-2019 levels. Rather than accelerate during the Biden-Harris stimulated inflation, it is holding steady.
• Albertsons is another large grocery chain, whose potential merger with Kroger is being thwarted by the FTC. Their net profit margin in early 2024 was a meager 1.63%.  
• Conagra is a company that provides meat snacks, meals, entrees, condiments, specialty potatoes, milled grain ingredients, and dehydrated vegetables and seasoning. Their net profit margins have remained boringly consistent. Certainly, there is no obvious correlation between their “excessive profits” and the Biden-Harris non-transitory inflation.
• Sysco’s products include meat, seafood, canned foods, dairy items, fruits, vegetables, and beverages. Its margins are recovering slightly (“perish” the thought), but, at a paltry 2.6% effective 3/21/24, are still below the 3% effective 12/31/2019.
• Hormel’s net profit margins have gone down as inflation has risen. That, despite Kamala picking on the meat processing industry.
• Walmart is a remarkable American success story that craven Kamala probably derides. Unfortunately, they have crushed many mom-and-pop stores along the way, but, staying on topic… in 2023, 58.8% of their sales were in the grocery category. Upon reporting their quarterly results last week, CEO Doug McMillon said prices on groceries and other items are falling.
• McDonald’s operations have floundered a bit recently. Nevertheless, they are committed to more value to entice customers. Indeed, a mantra of “value, value, value” was a theme on earnings calls for a variety of fast-food restaurants. McDonalds makes a precarious 1% to 5% profit margin on their $5 combo meal.

Of restaurants in general: proprietors work their fingers to the bone for desperate profit margins. Publicly traded companies are getting hammered. Hopefully, it’s okay with Kamala that they make enough to be able to fork out the “living wage” that she demagogues about.

Kamala is an equivocating imposter who tries to shield her socialist bona fides in pandering fashion. I’ll end the abridged list of great American companies that provide our sustenance (and good jobs) with modest margins because the following conclusions are already evident:

Kamala is desperate to divert attention from the real causes (excessive deficit spending and supply constraints) of her administration’s non-transitory inflation. Furthermore, she may harbor resentment that companies in the food and grocery business are adaptable enough to efficiently produce profits. After all, her favored green energy companies, despite all manner of government incentives, operate with negative profit margins (essentially, production costs are greater than total revenue).

Compared to the healthy returns of the broader markets, alternative energy equities have performed abysmally. Juxtaposed to those pathetic metrics, I guess our marvelous food and grocery companies are indeed thriving, heaven forbid.

Image: AT via Magic Studio