For years, socialists and progressives have peddled a narrative that the true cause of soaring inflation is not the trillions of dollars printed and spent by the government during the pandemic, but corporate greed. That argument never made much sense to those educated in economics, yet even the everyday person can surely see how silly it is now that corporations are slashing their prices en masse. 

Target just announced that it is reducing prices on more than 5,000 items, such as milk, meat, bread, soda, fresh fruit and vegetables, snacks, yogurt, peanut butter, coffee, diapers, paper towels, and pet food.

“These price reductions will collectively save consumers millions of dollars this summer,” the company said. “We know consumers are feeling pressured to make the most of their budget, and Target is here to help them save more.”

And it’s not just Target. Amazon Fresh, Amazon’s grocery delivery service, recently announced price decreases on more than 4,000 products, lowering costs by as much as 30%. This comes after Walmart did something quite similar, lowering prices on roughly 7,000 different products. So, too, grocery giant Aldi has slashed prices on thousands of goods. 

This is all good news for families. But more than that, it’s the final nail in the coffin for the Left’s bizarre “greedflation” theory of inflation, which blamed high prices simply on corporate executives’ greed. 

It was always nonsensical, seeing how corporate greed did not suddenly increase from 2020 to 2021, yet inflation exploded. Also, corporations are not somehow greedier in some sectors, yet inflation was much higher in certain industries than others.

But to cling still to the notion that “corporate greed” is what fueled inflation would require a bizarre admission today: that corporations such as Target and Amazon have suddenly become less greedy and more kind-hearted and generous. This is, of course, nonsensical. They have been and continue to be dedicated to profit maximization. 

The reality is that prices are not and never have been a product of “corporate greed.” They are a result of many market factors that fluctuate. 

Corporations are lowering prices now not because they have suddenly become kind-hearted but because they believe that, with consumers having pulled back on spending, lowering prices will tempt them back, and corporations will actually make more money than they would by keeping prices high. 

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This gets at yet another fatal flaw behind the “greedflation” narrative: It erroneously assumes that corporations always maximize profits by charging the highest price possible. That’s not correct. Corporations often make more profits by charging lower prices, but selling more overall units than they could at a higher price. 

Yet, evidently, the many major figures who pushed this theory, from President Joe Biden to Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), don’t understand these basic economic realities. Now that corporations are slashing prices and “greedflation” is no longer even remotely plausible, you’d hope that they would put this unserious theory to rest. But that’s naively assuming that it was ever rooted in earnest belief rather than cynical political scapegoating.

Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is an independent journalist, YouTuber, and co-founder of BASEDPolitics.