President Joe Biden knows one of his biggest challenges ahead of Election Day is convincing Americans that the U.S. economy is, in fact, doing well. Ongoing inflation has drowned out that message, and the White House realizes Biden needs a more tangible villain. Corporations that have seen their profits skyrocket as prices have gone up are pretty much tailor-made for the moment, and CEOs at major companies have made themselves rich targets ahead of Thursday’s scheduled State of the Union address.
Inflation has slowed since its peak in June 2022, as the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates and pandemic-era supply chain issues have resolved. But a Daily Kos/Civiqs survey in December found that 50% of respondents believed that inflation will be “solved” only if prices drop back to where they were before the pandemic. Biden has leaned into that anger. In a December speech, he said that “any corporation that has not brought their prices back down — even as inflation has come down, even [as] supply chains have been rebuilt — it’s time to stop the price gouging.”
That message hasn’t exactly been heard in America’s C-suites. Recently, in a particularly tone-deaf comment on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick suggested the cereal aisle for families struggling with high food prices:
“The cereal category has always been quite affordable, and it tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure,” Pilnick said amid a discussion about high grocery prices. “If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they might otherwise do, that’s going to be much more affordable.”
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Pilnick doubled down, saying: “In fact, it’s landing really well right now. Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now, and we would expect to continue as that consumer is under pressure.”
Bear in mind that Pilnick makes $1 million a year from his salary alone and gets up to $4.4 million…
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