This is what we should be protesting and petitioning congress about. There need to be laws passed that punish greedy corporations for price gouging and penalties for stock buybacks and regulations to prevent the reckless speculation that causes financial bubbles.
Unfortunately the government won't do something against their own interest. The rich own the government and they won't dare defy them. That's how it works when you have a system that runs on money, not values.
These issues are the greatest threat to the American public. Arguing over Critical RaceTheory and whether or not gay people should get married are nothing but deliberate and well financed distractions.
That is so sweet that you think that govt give crap about the masses. Just about every politician in West is millionaire or part of wealthy family or becoming millionaire using govt information to play on the stock market. Representative democracy is a farce to give the peasant masses the illusion that they have say in the govt to avoid a rebellion. Especially in the United States they use team politics to trick people into voting even though winners in reality are predetermined by the wealthy who control the politicians.
This isn’t about helping the consumer. This is a merger designed to monopolize clean house and secure the future earning potentials for a very few people at the top.
We're slowly turning into Mexico economically. No anti-trust laws, no minimum wage, and they might even get rid of hourly pay. Same as Mexico and other third world countries that have almost no regulations at all. Regulations are what separates the developed world from the undeveloped world and Republicans want us to be more like the undeveloped world.
Arent antitrust laws meant to prevent monopolies like this? Why is it okay according to FTC and the feds for a handful of companies to own everything today?
Uh nope …I work for an Albertsons store (jewel-Osco) our union is feckless and is in the pocketbook of management. I had more benefits and worker protections working for non union companies than I ever had working for jewel and Mariannos…..
@@laurachristianson1688 I also work for albertsons in a grocery store. My union is awesome and on top of things. Unions are only what workers let them be. Bad leadership can be kicked out. Worker power on the shop floor is for us to build.
the problem is the big box stores a own the production, supply chains and buy in such a quantity it pushes smaller player out the market the is why their goal is to repeatedly merge
We don't even have any Kroger grocery stores nearby where I live in Idaho. So when I heard how big a store Kroger was I was like, "WTF is Kroger? I've never set foot in one of their stores."
@@Auguur I live in WV the government has been forcing everyone to become a company or taxable entity, but in WV everyone is fairly poor and not worried about the government. A lot of people sell off of their farm.
The antitrust laws proscribe unlawful mergers and business practices in general terms, leaving courts to decide which ones are illegal based on the facts of each case. Courts have applied the antitrust laws to changing markets, from a time of horse and buggies to the present digital age. The lack of competition will enrich the corporations while they price gouge the customer.
It seems that they've fooled about half of the American voting public. I think the faith goes something like; "Government is bad and greed is good", therefore, monopolies being the ultimate expression of greed, they are the ultimate good. We're doomed.
Yes of course monopolies must be broken up. HOWEVER, this piece does not address that Walmart and Kroger/Albertsons have created food deserts across the country offset by dollar stores, fast food chains, and food pantries. The second missing piece is that there are highly successful small groceries like Trader Joes and Aldis that blow the big players out of the water profits-wise while still providing inexpensive products for their customers. Think about it. Who needs a store that carries more than one variety of things like aluminum foil, cheerios, laundry soap, etc. It's just dumb.
Aldis isnt fantastic. Also all those small stores are basicly owned by the same family. They also stretch far from us shores. And as far as good working conditions, its basicly on par with working at amazon. The turn over is abysmal on the warehouse side.
Here in New Zealand we have two large grocery companies that between them control 80% of the grocery retail and wholesale market. Our prices here are much higher than in neighbouring Australia. Our competition regulator isn't doing enough.
No your competition regulator is doing what they are supposed to be doing... looking out for their own self interest and the interest of the politicians.
Good luck with that. Any sort of nationalization would be met with HEAVY resistance from these corporations. The government would not be ready to handle such a thing either
I think the price ceiling for groceries is basically when we realize that prepared food at restaurants or other services is only slightly more expensive than groceries. I already make this choice for salads specifically - Salad and Go salads cost only marginally more than buying the ingredients myself and then I don’t have to cook the meat or chop any veggies or keep any dressing around. I wonder if this is what’s to come next.
Government Food Stamps can only be used at Grocery Stores, almost never at Restaurants. This really angers me, and is not fair to people with low or no income.
Do regulators and policy makers really care about the regular middle class (shrinking every day) and working class and poor people? I don't think so. Look who's getting wealthy and who's working hard and living in horrible housing or in their cars. With their kids. More and more monopolies are becoming bigger and stronger and the consumer can't keep up with the prices that keep rising and will never again go down.
All summer long I can go five miles to a farm and buy any thing I want from corn to beef at good prices. People need to learn how to live as our great grandparents lived. They put up food from the summer to last the winter. We have a nation of dependent people, people who can do nothing for themselves. The prices people pay are because they will do nothing else.
Known of kroger for 41 yrs worked an independent food wareouse largest in SE USA..KROGER BOUGHT FRED MEYER nothing special on prices..portland,oregon.but yea kroger,albertson yikes.rots of ruck..
You get one time, and then the trucks stop coming. Forget the chaos and anarchy, and vote vote vote. Vote at every level and hold them to their promises.
Take a lesson from Canada. Everything is Loblaw. Everything that isnt is Sobeys. Walmart, metro, and costo contribute but canada is ruled by a grocery cartel and prices are INSANE.
Another aspect of this is that EBT can usually only be used at Grocery Stores, NOT at Restaurants. This really angers me, and is not fair to people with low or no income.
That leaves the Phoenix area with zero competition on food prices! Kroger alread bought out ALL of our chain grocery stores and CLOSED All Of Them several years ago! The only chain store Competition FRY'S-Kroger left here was Safeway and Albertson. Now they want to buy them out leaving the 5th largest metro area with no competition and no choices of where to buy our food.
There is power struggle going on that will determine the future of all mankind, and majority of the working class (the side that should win for best results) aren’t even fighting.
It sounds like the working class needs to level up from doing a few "slay x amount of enemies," type quests. Except for one thing.... the only weapon you get is a plastic fork. Good luck!
@@EmeraldEyesBibleSecrets we just need some leaders, and I guess a blacksmith I’m currently training to become a better leader, but despite super confidence I believe I may be under qualified, I don’t see anyone else doing it though.
I'm in a weird place with this. My local grocery store is corporate owned-not by one these corporations though. They pay minimum wage while bragging in their newsletters about record profits. Thing is though, all of the small locally owned grocery stores in my area closed down. We're the only one of the nearby small towns to still have a grocery store. The other towns have to make due with Dollar General instead. I guess the other half is that we have a Walmart and a Ruler in the next town over (and across state lines). Otherwise, I've never seen an actual Kroger or an Albertsons or a Safeway or a Ralphs, etc. I'd much rather have one of those than a dollar store though.
before Albertsons and Vons merged we used to have a Vons near our house now we have to drive an extra 15 minutes to the grocery store I know it's not a big deal but it is to me because now the closest grocery store is stater Brothers and the next closest grocery store is Albertsons our Vons was great it made it easy I could walk there now I have to get in a car to go grocery shopping and a lot of those workers probably lost their jobs
I have been on disability for 2 yrs so my income is about 1/3 of what it used to be. I hate it but I have to shop for my groceries at Walmart. There is a lot bad about Walmart. They force small businesses to close. They underpay their workers. But I save around 20% on packaged foods for the same brand. I used to do business with Walmart. They demand the lowest cost from their vendors due to volume. It sucks shopping there but due to my lower income I have no choice.
I have to shop there too... So I always get a scooter cart, I put expensive items on the bottom, and then I scan, bag, and return items to the tiny cart one item at a time. They tend to have only one actual cashier. Most of their employees are just standing around or doing things in the Aisles. They have scan gates at the exits, but they are just for show.
I opened this video and that was that was first thing i shouted @ my phone... WTF... do we Still even HAVE anti-trust laws in the US...?? Apparently not. 😒😑
More Perfect Union and the grocery workers are more vocal about the merger than UFCW international HQ. That says something. We all have to be more aggressive.
The Ruling Oligarchs own these Monopolies - it is the best way to run a country. Value of Share Market has virtually halved over last eight months, and demand has gone back to 2019 levels. This means unemployment is likely to increase significantly, just as Interest Rates increase. These are cyclical events which usually occur every 7 to 8 years. - this one is long overdue.
I remember Wrigley’s gum costing $0.05 cents a pack, and candy bars were only $0.10 cents growing up as a kid in the 1960’s. Our alleged improved standard of living is always followed by price increases, which are not reflected as one of the causes of inflation.
I did an FB post along the lines of "Albertsons merged with Safeway (Vons) a few years ago. Now Kroger (Fry's, Ralph's, probably others) is about to merge with Albertsons. Consumer choice still exists, but it's mostly an illusion. This is how US capitalism works." And *wouldn't you know it* ? That post was wildly popular with both my leftist and right(ist?) friends ranging from gen z all the way to boomer. It's probably important to note that I have some upper middle class friends, but zero upper class friends.
When Kroger, Vons, Safeway, merged a few years ago, they told us that price's would go down. The opposite occurred, prices went up. This merger should be stopped, they will have a monopoly.
As a current Kroger employee, 19 yrs old, my best advice is start investing in a business. That's currently my plan, since I am a courtesy clerk, favorite of management, and I know I am already falling into the pit of corporate. Corporate would not even care for the life of one individual, and it's all because they truly do not care. The summer retention pay program's ALL A LIE!!!
I spent a couple weeks working for one of the stores under the albertsons umbrella while on strike with the UAW. I worked in the bake shop. They come nowhere near a living wage. It's honestly upsetting how little they make. It's so low that when I brought up that I couldn't make over a certain amount or I wouldn't qualify for my strike pay, someone laughed and said I'd be fine with how little they pay.
Kroger is failing badly around Nashville. They have a lousy selection, and we quit shopping there and use Publix. I worked for Kroger once, and they let me go as soon as I joined the union. They destroy so much food, rather than donate to the needy. Part of my job was to take cartloads of bread and other foods to the compactor and tear open the bags and hit the compactor button.
The irony here is that one of the strongest arguments against communism was that a civilian didn't had the freedom to choose to buy where ever they wanted, whenever they wanted. This concurrence would make stores competitive for asking the lowest price for the highest quality products. Well, not anymore. Today one has got nothing to choose, just like in the Soviet Union...
Great points in this video and good evidence to backup the claims but the video is dripping with a clear lack of objectives. Makes me question who paid or influenced the making of this video
About 25 years ago I was bellyaching about the price of gas and hownit was a monopoly to my dad. He laughed and said tou will look back on this as a golden age when in the future they control the food. At the time i thought he was nuts, not so much anymore 🤔
Only shop at local stores. If you want people to stop shopping at big chain stores then get the chain stores to look more trashy. Get homeless people to camp near the big chain store. Set rabid dogs loose near the big chain store. Anything you can to ruin their business.
Because they can afford to lose money on certain things, knowing that will entice you to browse and be gouged elsewhere or just buy enough stuff to offset those savings and make sure they make their money regardless
When you eat at a restaurant, even if it's fast food, there are liability concerns. You can often get a refund if the food made you sick. I used to only eat out, and I was far healthier for doing so. Once I started living on food stamps alone, I was forced to buy from supermarkets and now I'm much heavier and have various health problems.
