The American Prospect | J Buchczik
The Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell got a bit of a surprise this year when Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), the Banking Committee chair, launched into his opening statement. “The biggest corporations are always finding new ways to charge people more to increase their profits,” Brown said. “Fast-food restaurants and big stores are experimenting with electronic price tags, so they can change prices constantly, making it easier to sneak prices up little by little.” He called for legislative measures “to take on corporate price-gouging,” which, he argued, had “nothing to do with higher interest rates.”