Greedflation as prices rise bosses make a killing

Marxist Analysis · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The article argues that while "greedflation" — the phenomenon of corporations raising prices beyond what cost increases justify — is real, it is a symptom rather than a cause of the current inflationary crisis. The central thesis is that inflation cannot be reduced to price gouging by greedy capitalists, nor to the "wage-price spiral" narrative pushed by right-wing politicians. Instead, the current inflation is the product of the accumulated contradictions of monopoly capitalism in its decay: decades of quantitative easing, pandemic-era money creation, supply chain disruption, imperialist war, and the structural power of monopolies to fix prices. The article insists that inflation is a systemic crisis of capitalism itself, not a moral failure correctable by appealing to capitalist restraint.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis draws on Lenin's theory of monopoly capitalism as developed in Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, particularly the argument that capitalist competition inevitably produces monopoly, cartels, and price-fixing arrangements that allow superprofits at the expense of the rest of society. This provides the theoretical basis for explaining why firms can raise prices without being undercut by competitors — the classical liberal assumption of perfect competition no longer holds.

The article also implicitly draws on Marx's theory of money and inflation, though this remains underdeveloped. The argument that injecting trillions into the economy without a corresponding increase in production "had to find an expression" gestures toward the quantity theory of money but does not fully articulate the Marxist critique of that theory. The piece situates itself within the tradition of analysing capitalism's decay — the period in which monopoly, imperialism, and state intervention become permanent features rather than temporary distortions.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article is written in May 2023, at the height of the post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis. It provides specific data: ExxonMobil's $11 billion quarterly profit; big oil's $219 billion profit in 2022; UK domestic gas prices up 129 percent and electricity up 67 percent; 6.7 million UK homes in fuel poverty; food inflation at 19.1 percent in the UK, 21.1 percent in Germany, 15.8 percent in France. It cites a Goldman Sachs report attributing 50 percent of inflation to increased profit margins rather than wage increases.

The article connects inflation to the war in Ukraine (energy and grain price disruption), the $15 trillion in pandemic-era government stimulus, the $133 billion increase in NATO defence budgets, and the unravelling of globalised supply chains. It identifies the US Inflation Reduction Act as a protectionist measure that will worsen inflation rather than reduce it — a pointed critique of the act's cynical naming.

Where the Argument Continues

The article leaves several questions open. First, it does not fully develop the Marxist theory of inflation — specifically, the relationship between the quantity of money, the value of commodities, and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. This is a gap that other IDOM articles on inflation and crisis theory would fill. Second, the article gestures toward the "decay" of capitalism but does not elaborate on the periodisation of capitalist crisis — the distinction between cyclical crises and the structural crisis of the system as a whole. Third, the political conclusion — "to overcome the current crisis we need to overcome capitalism itself" — is stated rather than argued. The strategic implications for the labour movement — how to fight for wage increases, price controls, nationalisation, or workers' control in the current conjuncture — are not developed.

The argument would continue in IDOM articles on the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, on the Marxist theory of money and credit, and on the political economy of imperialism. Against the Stream episodes on the cost-of-living crisis and on the Ukraine war would provide the conjunctural update.

Connections

The article connects directly to Lenin's Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism as its key theoretical reference. It also connects to the broader Marxist literature on monopoly capitalism — Baran and Sweezy's Monopoly Capital would be a natural companion, though the article does not cite it. The analysis of quantitative easing and state bailouts connects to Marx's discussion of fictitious capital in Volume III of Capital, particularly the role of credit in postponing crisis. The critique of the "wage-price spiral" narrative connects to the Marxist tradition's insistence that wages follow prices, not the other way around — a position developed in Marx's Wage-Labour and Capital and Value, Price and Profit.

Key Quotes

1. "It needs to be explained how under a market-based (capitalist) system the phenomenon of 'greedflation' can take place at all. It should not be possible for a company to arbitrarily raise prices to increase profits. After all, if this was possible, then why don't companies do it all the time?"

2. "Lenin explained in his seminal piece Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism that capitalist competition would lead to monopoly and imperialism. This development, in turn, leads to price fixing and agreements between cartels and monopoly powers, who thereby make superprofits at the expense of the rest of society."

3. "When their costs go up, the monopolies immediately raise prices. When they fall, they use their position to resist the return to lower prices."

4. "This injection of huge quantities of money into the economy without a corresponding increase in production had to find an expression in the economy at a certain point. The capitalist class, in attempting to overcome the last crisis, laid the foundations for the present crisis."

5. "Whilst 'greedflation' is very real, an explanation purely in terms of greed explains nothing. It suggests that the present situation can be remedied by convincing the capitalists to be 'less greedy'. But greed and capitalism have always gone hand in hand."

6. "The present inflationary crisis is a symptom of the bankruptcy of the whole system. Profiteering by monopolies, bailouts, imperialist wars, the anarchy of the market, the barriers erected by the nation-state – all play a role in stoking inflation. It is capitalism as a whole that is to blame."