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June 06, 2022 08:32 AM

Kickstart: 'Greedflation' or 'witch hunt'?

Rhoda Miel
Managing Editor
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    'Greedflation' or 'witch hunt'?

    We've learned a lot of words and phrases in the past couple of years: the Great Resignation, PPE and, of course, COVID.

    Now expect to hear more on a controversial term some people are using to explain current economic conditions: "greedflation."

    The idea behind the term is to link record corporate profits from some industries with rising inflation rates. Essentially, proponents say firms are pushing up prices for what they produce at a rate higher than their costs and are pocketing the excess.

    But others say the term is just another conspiracy theory at play for the general public, trying to find someone to blame for inflation beyond basic issues of supply and demand.

    Its use is split along political lines, with supporters such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., calling for a temporary windfall profit tax on companies increasing prices beyond their own costs while conservative-leaning groups refer to a "witch hunt."

    Catherine Rampell at The Washington Post says the term oversimplifies the economy without addressing the need to increase supply.

    "The problem is, it's really hard to figure out what is the right price for something," she told Madeline Brand in a podcast for public radio station KCRW. "I get it. People are mad. I'm mad. I don't like paying more for stuff and people with fewer resources are really suffering.

    "[But] this fixation on greedflation, or whatever you want to call it, at best does nothing to help inflation, worse it could distract from the tools that are helpful ... and in the worst-case scenario encouraging them to do some things that could be actively harmful like price controls."

    For a good 10-minute primer on the term, check out the Press Play podcast with Rampell at the KCRW website.

    Get Kickstart to your inbox every morning.

    Opportunity hums

    I know you've heard this before, but an increasing number of industry leaders in both plastics and automotive are alerting plastics suppliers that they need to increase their priorities to making parts for electric vehicles.

    This time the message is coming from Hinrich Woebcken, currently a venture partner with Blue Lagoon Capital, the former president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America Inc. and a onetime KraussMaffei AG injection molding executive.

    "I'm working a lot with private equity. And the big dollars, the big investment money, are really more and more channeled only into companies ... where the management, the technology stands behind sustainability," Woebcken said at an automotive conference organized by injection molding machinery maker Engel Group, held June 2 in Novi, Mich.

    As Editor Don Loepp writes, Woebcken cited several examples of ways plastics can help EV OEMs, including new exterior lighting concepts that will replace front grilles.

    "What I see is an opportunity for the people in this room," he said.

     

    The return of an iconic brand

    Exactly how much plastic will go into one new electric vehicle hasn't been released yet, but regardless of whether the body panels are made of composites or metal, there is definitely an opportunity to connect with an iconic name: DeLorean.

    The DeLorean Motor Co. Inc. is teasing the first glimpses of its Alpha5, which will be officially unveiled in August.

    The Alpha5 boasts a 300-mile range, 155 mph top speed, a clear plastic rear lighting panel that stretches across the body and, of course, gull wing doors.

    No official word so far on whether it will also include a flux capacitor.

     

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