Up, up, prices are up

Politicians have tried to blame supermarkets for higher grocery bills. But higher costs are the reason, not corporate greed.

Big business continues to get bigger. Earlier this week, Coles, an Australian supermarket chain, announced its earnings. The grocer’s annual sales and profits surged. Revenues jumped 4% to A$43.6bn ($29.6bn), and the firm's net profit after tax hit A$1.1bn. Cue the political outrage. "Up, up, profits are up," wrote Adam Bandt, the leader of the Australian Greens party, in a post on X, a social media platform. Other politicians and pundits have jumped on the outrage bandwagon, too. They reckon the Aussie supermarket chains are price-gouging, charging unfair prices. And, because of that, those pundits think families are paying the price.

It's a similar situation all across the world. Household budgets are stretched, like too little butter scraped across too much toast. Lawmakers are on the hunt for someone to blame. And they've put supermarkets in the cross-hairs. So, are supermarkets price gouging? No. The higher prices you now pay at the till have come from rising costs, not corporate …