>I've seen a number of reports of companies posting record profits and raising prices—which indicates that they're not raising prices because they have to
You are thinking about this only from the profit side. The entire reason this can happen is because customers are willing and capable to pay more. Cost were never limiting the price because companies were making a profit before too!
If you are selling steak, you raise your prices until customers stop buying. You don't stop at X profit margin. Prices go up because customers are willing and able to spend more.
If you're saying they're using inflation as a cover and lying, I totally agree. But waiting for an excuse isn't what was stopping them before.
>More importantly, the concern at hand is recessions, not inflation
You can't separate the two. Recession is GDP loss after adjusting for inflation. The U.S. GDP without inflation is still increasing. Without inflation there would be no recession
You are thinking about this only from the profit side. The entire reason this can happen is because customers are willing and capable to pay more. Cost were never limiting the price because companies were making a profit before too!
If you are selling steak, you raise your prices until customers stop buying. You don't stop at X profit margin. Prices go up because customers are willing and able to spend more.
If you're saying they're using inflation as a cover and lying, I totally agree. But waiting for an excuse isn't what was stopping them before.
>More importantly, the concern at hand is recessions, not inflation
You can't separate the two. Recession is GDP loss after adjusting for inflation. The U.S. GDP without inflation is still increasing. Without inflation there would be no recession
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP