00:00Planet Fitness charges $10 a month.
00:02This week, it had the biggest stock drop ever because people can't afford the $10.
00:07So what do America's top CEOs think the problem is?
00:10Here's what's happening.
00:11In just a few weeks, the CEO of Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, Whirlpool, and Planet Fitness all said the same thing.
00:17Their customers are tapped out.
00:20According to federal data, food prices are up 33% since 2020, energy is up 48%,
00:25and the Federal Reserve says $100 today has the same buying power as $11.74 did in 1970.
00:32So inflation may have cooled, but prices never came down.
00:36Kraft Heinz's CEO said customers are literally running out of money by the end of the month,
00:40dipping into savings just for groceries.
00:43McDonald's flagged heightened anxiety and rising gas costs.
00:46Whirlpool said demand for big-ticket home appliances, the kind of purchase you put off when money is tight,
00:51dropped 15%, a decline the company called recession level.
00:56And Planet Fitness canceled planned price increases and slashed its full-year outlook.
01:00But here's the part that never gets explained.
01:03Cooling inflation means prices stopped going up as fast, not that they ever came down.
01:08That 33% grocery hike from 2020 doesn't shrink just because the inflation rate dropped to 3%.
01:13So what are the American people doing?
01:15Trading down, skipping gyms, and pulling back on appliances.
01:19And companies that spent years raising prices are now reversing course, which rarely happens voluntarily.
01:25Critics in Congress and consumer advocates say corporations used inflation as an excuse to raise prices
01:31beyond what their costs actually justified and point to record corporate profits as evidence.
01:36Industry groups say that the price increases were real and necessary,
01:40and that years of government stimulus pumped too much money into the economy and drove costs up for everyone.
01:46So did corporations raise prices because they had to or because they could?
01:51Drop your take in the comments and follow us here for more.
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