OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THAT!!!!

 

SOME HUMOR TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY.....

 

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?????

 

Trump says ‘I don’t know’ when asked if he’s required to uphold Constitution 4MAI25

 

NO WONDER NOT MY PRES DRUMPF / TRUMP DID NOT PUT HIS HAND ON THE BIBLE WHEN TAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE, HE HAD NO INTENTION OF PRESERVING, PROTECTING OR DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

DUH to anyone surprised by NOT MY pres drumpf's / trump's comments, attitudes, actions, policies and lies. Have you been in a coma or did you decide to be voluntarily ignorant for the past 10 years? All who truely love our democratic Republic can only hope he doesn’t last much longer or the U.S. Military actually removes him and his fascist authoritarian oligarchy administration because of the constitutional crisis now developing. From the Washington Post.....

Trump says ‘I don’t know’ when asked if he’s required to uphold Constitution

The president also downplayed fears of a recession and spoke of potential successors when his four-year term ends in an NBC interview.

Updated

May 4, 2025 at 1:19 p.m. EDTtoday at 1:19 p.m. EDT

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump, asked during an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” whether he believes that he needs to uphold the Constitution during his presidency, responded, “I don’t know.”

The comment came as Trump remained adamant that he wanted to ship undocumented immigrants out of the country and said it was inconceivable to hear millions of cases in court, insisting he needed the power to quickly remove people he said were murderers and drug dealers.

“I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it,” he said.

Pressed by host Kristen Welker on whether he still needs to abide by the Constitution, he said, “I don’t know.”

“I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said,” he said, appearing to downplay the oath of office that includes a commitment to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”

In the wide-ranging interview that aired Sunday, Trump was dismissive of his higher tariffs’ economic consequences for consumers, saying Americans would simply have to make do with fewer dolls and pencils, and higher costs for strollers. And he brushed aside the spiraling effects that a recession could bring.

He also did not rule out the use of military force to take Greenland, while saying it’s “highly unlikely” he would use force against Canada. He complimented Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential successors, and he said he planned to foot the bill for adding a ballroom to the White House that would be more in line with his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The interview was remarkable at times, such as when a president elected on a pledge to lower costs and fight inflation minimized concerns about the potential for a recession and suggested that having an economic hit in the short term would be worth it if he can achieve his long-term goals.

“Everything’s okay,” he said. “I said this is a transition period. I think we’re going to do fantastically.”

He said he was not worried about the economy contracting under his watch but did not rule it out.

“Anything can happen,” he said. “But I think we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country. I think we’re going have the greatest economic boom in history.”

Last week, new data showed that the U.S. economy shrank in the first three months of the year, a stark reversal after nearly three years of solid growth amid tariff-related uncertainty.

Trump swiftly blamed his predecessor, and he continued to say in the interview that former president Joe Biden was responsible for aspects of the economy, while conceding that it is “partially” the Trump economy going forward.

“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” he said. “He did a terrible job on everything.”

Pressed further on whether he took responsibility for the impact his tariff plans were having on the economy, he said, “Ultimately, I take responsibility for everything.”

“The tariffs have just started kicking in. And we’re doing really well. Psychologically, I mean, the fake news was giving me such press on the tariffs. The tariffs are going to make us rich. We’re going to be a very rich country.”

Asked about providing relief for small businesses, he said, “They’re not going to need it.”

He raised the possibility that the tariffs could be permanent, although part of that seemed to be a negotiating tactic.

“I wouldn’t do that because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?” he said.

Trump was criticized last week for suggesting during a Cabinet meeting that consumers would see price increases and may have to do more with less, making the comment that “children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls.”

“I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs — that’s 11 years old — needs to have 30 dolls,” he said in the NBC interview. “I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China.”

He rejected any notion of empty store shelves or increased prices, but maintained that consumers may be affected.

“I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three,” he said on NBC. “They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”

He also focused on certain aspects of the economy — including energy prices — and was dismissive of cost increases in other sectors.

“When you say strollers are going up, what kind of a thing?” he said. “I’m saying that gasoline is going down. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller.”

The president also reiterated his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell for not lowering interest rates and suggested that it was due to personal animus — “He just doesn’t like me because I think he’s a total stiff,” he said — but Trump also said he would not attempt to remove him before Powell’s term is up in 2026.

Trump also said he would again extend the deadline for a nationwide ban on the popular social media app TikTok if a deal is not done in time. Congress last year voted overwhelmingly to force ByteDance, the app’s Chinese-based parent company, to sell TikTok or face a ban in the United States. A deal was imminent last month, but fell apart amid protests from the Chinese government over Trump’s tariff policies.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said in the interview. “TikTok is — it’s very interesting, but it’ll be protected. It’ll be very strongly protected. But if it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension. Might not need it.”

Trump also soft-pedaled his previous comments suggesting the idea of running for a third term. “This is not something I’m looking to do,” he said in the NBC interview. While he said others have encouraged him, “It’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do.”

“I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward,” he said. “But I think we’re going to have four years, and I think four years is plenty of time to do something really spectacular.”

He declined to name whom he views as his successor but said that “JD’s doing a fantastic job” and that his vice president “would have an advantage.” But he also brought up Rubio, calling him “great.” Rubio has had a remarkable rise within Trump’s orbit, coming to be seen as a vital conduit to the president. Last week, Rubio was tapped to replace ousted national security adviser Michael Waltz in addition to serving as the nation’s top diplomat.

“I think the other people would all stay in unbelievably high positions. But you know, it could be that he’d be challenged by somebody,” Trump said, referring to Vance. “We have a lot of good people in this party.”

Trump, who is soon supposed to meet the new Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, said he would not cease talking about Canada as a 51st state, suggesting that “it would be a cherished state” while dismissing its importance as a trade ally even though it is one of the U.S.’s largest trading partners.

“We don’t need their cars, we don’t need their lumber, we don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything,” he said. “We do very little business with Canada. They do all of their business practically with us. They need us. We don’t need them.”

When asked about military force to take over Greenland, he said “it’s highly unlikely” but added that “I don’t rule it out.”

“I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there,” he said. “We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.”

He rebuffed suggestions that he is taking the country down an authoritarian path, saying that anyone who disagrees with him “had their chance at the election, and they lost big.”

“Many people love Trump. I won the election,” he said. “They didn’t win the election. I got a lot more votes than they did. I won the popular vote. I won all seven swing states by a lot. A lot of people were surprised.”

He also made a baseless claim that the election contained some improprieties.

“Actually, I think there was a lot of hanky-panky going on, but it was too big to rig,” he said. “That’s the good news. It’s too big to rig.”

Asked whether people should be able to criticize him without fear of reprisal, Trump responded, “Absolutely. Yeah, I do. That I do.”

“It’s a part of democracy. It is. You’re always going to have dissent,” he said. “There’s nothing you’re going to do about that. Am I going to get 100 percent unified? It would be a strange place. I can’t even imagine it.”

By Matt Viser

Matt Viser is the White House bureau chief for The Washington Post. He has covered four administrations, as well as Congress, the State Department, and presidential campaigns. He joined The Post in October 2018, and was previously deputy chief of the Washington bureau for the Boston Globe. Send him secure tips on Signal at @mattviser.95

MINIMUM WAGE, PRICE INCREASES, CORPORATE GREED

 

EGGS AND GAS

 

(VIDEO) Why corporations are reaping record profits with inflation on the rise 12APR22

 INFLATION, another name for corporate greed protected by democratic and republican politicians who are bought and paid for by the military-industrial complex, the bank-financial cabal, the authoritarian oligarchial hierarchy whose goal is increasing their wealth at the expense of the 99%. The gop/greed over people is operating a propaganda campaign that keeps many of the American people whining for the president to do something but they have no idea what that something should be and at the same time do not call on their senators and representative to address the issue. The billionaire tax needs to be pasted by Congress, that would at least provide funding for the American Social Contract and the social safety net programs that will provide the assistance needed by so many to survive. The below from the PBS NewsHour......

Why corporations are reaping record profits with inflation on the rise 12APR22

Despite rising inflation, major U.S. corporations are reporting record profits, as companies pass rising supply-chain costs onto consumers. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores whether concentrated market power is contributing to inflation.

Read the Full Transcript

• Judy Woodruff:

  Despite rising inflation, major U.S. corporations are reporting record profits, as companies pass rising supply chain costs onto consumers.

  Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores whether concentrated market power is contributing to inflation.

• Robert Reich, Former U.S. Labor Secretary:

  Inflation, inflation, everybody's talking about it.

• Paul Solman:

  Longtime liberal activist Robert Reich:

• Robert Reich:

  Corporations are raising prices, even as they rake in record profits.

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

  Prices at the pump have gone up. Why? Well, let me give you a hint.

• Paul Solman:

  Senator Elizabeth Warren.

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren:

  This isn't about inflation. This is about price gouging.

• Paul Solman:

  This is a charge that pops up in lots of places, even on my Twitter feed.

  So, do the facts justify the outrage? Well, you have heard the standard causes of COVID inflation, government stimulus money, a tight labor market driving up wages, clogged supply chains, imports anchored offshore, and now, to top it off, Russia's invasion of Ukraine goosing oil, gas and wheat prices.

  But if all this explains an inflation rate that's just reached 10 percent for businesses, the Producer Price Index, how come profits have risen even more?

  Dion Rabouin>, The Wall Street Journal

• Paul Solman:

  Wall Street reporter Dion Rabouin.

• Dion Rabouin:

  Nearly 100 of the biggest U.S. publicly traded companies booked 2021 profit margins that were at least 50 percent higher than their 2019 levels.

• Paul Solman:

  And 2019 was pre-pandemic, the economy solid, inflation, low. So, why the profit hike?

• Lindsay Owens, Groundwork Collaborative:

  The CEO of Kroger recently said:

• Rodney McMullen, CEO, Kroger:

  A little bit of inflation is always good in our business.

• Paul Solman:

  Lindsay Owens runs a progressive economic think tank that scours the earnings calls corporations hold for stock analysts and investors, like this one from Constellation Brands, which sells beer, wine and spirits.

• Garth Hankinson, CFO, Constellation Brands:

  We're going to look at this on a market-by-market basis, brand-by-brand basis, and we will take as much pricing as we think the consumer can absorb.

• Lindsay Owens:

  One of my favorite examples is Tyson Foods.

• Paul Solman:

  Purveyor of one out of every five pounds of beef, chicken and pork sold in the U.s. here's Tyson's chief financial officer on their latest quarterly results.

• Stewart Glendinning, CFO, Tyson Foods:

  Our pricing actions led to approximately $2.1 billion in sales and price/mix benefits during the quarter, which offset the higher cost of goods sold of $1.6 billion.

• Paul Solman:

  In other words, says Owens:

• Lindsay Owens:

  Our pricing is taking into account the cost of raw materials and the cost of labor, but more than offsetting it. And that more than offsetting it is that additional profit that they're able to bring in.

• Paul Solman:

  But profits sank when COVID hit, say companies like Tyson. This is just making up for lost time, nothing but an extreme short-term business cycle.

• Noah Smith, Economist:

  Capitalism requires greed to run.

• Paul Solman:

  Economist Noah Smith.

• Noah Smith:

  Corporations are always greedy. Their greed dial is always set to absolute maximum. And the idea that ameliorating greed would have any effect on inflation is wrong. And I made fun of it by making the following chart.

• Paul Solman:

  Smith, a liberal, mocks the idea that newfound greed explains the inflation surge with a tongue-in-cheek greed index chart.

• Noah Smith:

  And I labeled the rises in inflation as rising greed and the drops in inflation as falling greed.

• Paul Solman:

  Which would imply rising corporate generosity.

• Noah Smith:

  The reason this is a joke is because the big drop in inflation in the '80s would have to be caused by surges in corporate altruism, the altruism of Gordon Gekko and the '80s people.

  Michael Douglas, Actor

• Paul Solman:

  Yes, that Gordon Gekko.

• Michael Douglas:

  Greed works.

• Paul Solman:

  So, back to the original question: If corporate America is no greedier than ever, how come profits have soared?

• Lindsay Owens:

  What we're seeing in this moment is really when that profit maximization and opportunity collides. And the opportunity is the cover of inflation.

• Paul Solman:

  Aha, the opportunity caused by the pandemic. And when companies like Tyson blame higher costs, as their CEO has?

  Donnie King, President and CEO, Tyson Foods: Labor costs have gone up 20 percent, cattle costs are up 22 percent, and freight is up 32 percent. We're not asking customers or the consumer ultimately to pay for our inefficiencies. We're asking them to pay for inflation.

• Dion Rabouin:

  Woe is me. We have no choice but to raise our prices. Our labor costs are going up, our inputs, our inputs.

  But, in reality, companies aren't being forced to raise prices because of inflation. They're raising prices because they can.

• Paul Solman:

  And why can they now, with so little resistance, I asked Rabouin.

• Dion Rabouin:

  Inflation sort of disguises these price increases. When prices for everything around you are rising, it's much easier for companies to raise their prices and not experience that consumer blowback.

• Paul Solman:

  The point is, when consumers come to expect inflation, the process can begin to feed on itself.

• Lindsay Owens:

  Companies know that consumers expect higher prices right now. And they're really seeing how far they can push that.

• Paul Solman:

  And, says Robert Reich, Wall Street is egging them on, saying:

• Robert Reich:

  Look, this is a great time to raise your profit margins. And, of course, those Wall Streeters are saying the same thing to everybody else in the industry.

• Paul Solman:

  But in a competitive market economy, won't newcomers emerge offering lower prices? That's a lot less likely these days, says Rabouin and Reich.

• Dion Rabouin:

  Seventy-five percent of all American industries have become more concentrated in the last two decades.

• Robert Reich:

  Most are now dominated by a handful of corporations that coordinate prices and production. This is true of banks, broadband pharmaceutical companies, airlines, meat-packers.

• President Joe Biden:

  You got four basic meat-packing facilities. And you pay a hell of a lot more because there's only four.

• Paul Solman:

  Now, it's not literally just 4, but four do dominate the market. And its not just meat.

• President Joe Biden:

  You see what's happening with ocean carriers. During the pandemic, about half-a-dozen foreign-owned companies raised prices by as much as 1000 percent and made record profits.

• Paul Solman:

  The traditional check on consolidation, of course, is antitrust enforcement. Reich worked at the Federal Trade Commission in the 1970s.

• Robert Reich:

  Antitrust used to be a real thing. But since the early 1980s, antitrust has taken a backseat. In fact, some would say it's been thrown out of the car altogether. And big companies now routinely have the power to raise prices.

  Customers will note that there is almost an exact price matching among all major so-called competitors, because they're not really competing.

• Paul Solman:

  So, what is to be done?

• President Joe Biden:

  Tonight, I'm announcing a crackdown on those companies overcharging American businesses and consumers.

  (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

• Paul Solman:

  A crackdown on the shipping industry by regulators.

• Brian Deese, Director, National Economic Council:

  If they identify that there is market manipulation or price gouging going on.

• Paul Solman:

  The president's national economic adviser, Brian Deese.

• Brian Deese:

  And the agencies have now committed to partnering where the Department of Justice has significantly more enforcement resources and investigatory resources.

• Paul Solman:

  And the administration says it's working to lessen concentration in the food sector too.

• Brian Deese:

  You need scale to be competitive, and it takes capital to get to scale. So the USDA is actually right now working with smaller processors in rural areas across the country to try to give them grants, give them low-cost capital, so that they can scale, they can get into the game more quickly and easily.

• Paul Solman:

  As the meat industry points out, though, it's been concentrated for decades, decades of low inflation, even in meat.

  In the end, this is any administration's challenge, to effect real change amidst economic forces bigger than all of us. Meanwhile, with company costs rising at about 10 percent, corporate profits are rising at 12.4 percent. That extra 2.5 percent or so seems to be at least part of the inflation we're all paying for right now.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman.

• • Judy Woodruff:

    Despite rising inflation, major U.S. corporations are reporting record profits, as companies pass rising supply chain costs onto consumers.

    Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores whether concentrated market power is contributing to inflation.

  • Robert Reich, Former U.S. Labor Secretary:

    Inflation, inflation, everybody's talking about it.

  • Paul Solman:

    Longtime liberal activist Robert Reich:

  • Robert Reich:

    Corporations are raising prices, even as they rake in record profits.

  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

    Prices at the pump have gone up. Why? Well, let me give you a hint.

  • Paul Solman:

    Senator Elizabeth Warren.

  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren:

    This isn't about inflation. This is about price gouging.

  • Paul Solman:

    This is a charge that pops up in lots of places, even on my Twitter feed.

    So, do the facts justify the outrage? Well, you have heard the standard causes of COVID inflation, government stimulus money, a tight labor market driving up wages, clogged supply chains, imports anchored offshore, and now, to top it off, Russia's invasion of Ukraine goosing oil, gas and wheat prices.

    But if all this explains an inflation rate that's just reached 10 percent for businesses, the Producer Price Index, how come profits have risen even more?

    Dion Rabouin>, The Wall Street Journal

  • Paul Solman:

    Wall Street reporter Dion Rabouin.

  • Dion Rabouin:

    Nearly 100 of the biggest U.S. publicly traded companies booked 2021 profit margins that were at least 50 percent higher than their 2019 levels.

  • Paul Solman:

    And 2019 was pre-pandemic, the economy solid, inflation, low. So, why the profit hike?

  • Lindsay Owens, Groundwork Collaborative:

    The CEO of Kroger recently said:

  • Rodney McMullen, CEO, Kroger:

    A little bit of inflation is always good in our business.

  • Paul Solman:

    Lindsay Owens runs a progressive economic think tank that scours the earnings calls corporations hold for stock analysts and investors, like this one from Constellation Brands, which sells beer, wine and spirits.

  • Garth Hankinson, CFO, Constellation Brands:

    We're going to look at this on a market-by-market basis, brand-by-brand basis, and we will take as much pricing as we think the consumer can absorb.

  • Lindsay Owens:

    One of my favorite examples is Tyson Foods.

  • Paul Solman:

    Purveyor of one out of every five pounds of beef, chicken and pork sold in the U.s. here's Tyson's chief financial officer on their latest quarterly results.

  • Stewart Glendinning, CFO, Tyson Foods:

    Our pricing actions led to approximately $2.1 billion in sales and price/mix benefits during the quarter, which offset the higher cost of goods sold of $1.6 billion.

  • Paul Solman:

    In other words, says Owens:

  • Lindsay Owens:

    Our pricing is taking into account the cost of raw materials and the cost of labor, but more than offsetting it. And that more than offsetting it is that additional profit that they're able to bring in.

  • Paul Solman:

    But profits sank when COVID hit, say companies like Tyson. This is just making up for lost time, nothing but an extreme short-term business cycle.

  • Noah Smith, Economist:

    Capitalism requires greed to run.

  • Paul Solman:

    Economist Noah Smith.

  • Noah Smith:

    Corporations are always greedy. Their greed dial is always set to absolute maximum. And the idea that ameliorating greed would have any effect on inflation is wrong. And I made fun of it by making the following chart.

  • Paul Solman:

    Smith, a liberal, mocks the idea that newfound greed explains the inflation surge with a tongue-in-cheek greed index chart.

  • Noah Smith:

    And I labeled the rises in inflation as rising greed and the drops in inflation as falling greed.

  • Paul Solman:

    Which would imply rising corporate generosity.

  • Noah Smith:

    The reason this is a joke is because the big drop in inflation in the '80s would have to be caused by surges in corporate altruism, the altruism of Gordon Gekko and the '80s people.

    Michael Douglas, Actor

  • Paul Solman:

    Yes, that Gordon Gekko.

  • Michael Douglas:

    Greed works.

  • Paul Solman:

    So, back to the original question: If corporate America is no greedier than ever, how come profits have soared?

  • Lindsay Owens:

    What we're seeing in this moment is really when that profit maximization and opportunity collides. And the opportunity is the cover of inflation.

  • Paul Solman:

    Aha, the opportunity caused by the pandemic. And when companies like Tyson blame higher costs, as their CEO has?

    Donnie King, President and CEO, Tyson Foods: Labor costs have gone up 20 percent, cattle costs are up 22 percent, and freight is up 32 percent. We're not asking customers or the consumer ultimately to pay for our inefficiencies. We're asking them to pay for inflation.

  • Dion Rabouin:

    Woe is me. We have no choice but to raise our prices. Our labor costs are going up, our inputs, our inputs.

    But, in reality, companies aren't being forced to raise prices because of inflation. They're raising prices because they can.

  • Paul Solman:

    And why can they now, with so little resistance, I asked Rabouin.

  • Dion Rabouin:

    Inflation sort of disguises these price increases. When prices for everything around you are rising, it's much easier for companies to raise their prices and not experience that consumer blowback.

  • Paul Solman:

    The point is, when consumers come to expect inflation, the process can begin to feed on itself.

  • Lindsay Owens:

    Companies know that consumers expect higher prices right now. And they're really seeing how far they can push that.

  • Paul Solman:

    And, says Robert Reich, Wall Street is egging them on, saying:

  • Robert Reich:

    Look, this is a great time to raise your profit margins. And, of course, those Wall Streeters are saying the same thing to everybody else in the industry.

  • Paul Solman:

    But in a competitive market economy, won't newcomers emerge offering lower prices? That's a lot less likely these days, says Rabouin and Reich.

  • Dion Rabouin:

    Seventy-five percent of all American industries have become more concentrated in the last two decades.

  • Robert Reich:

    Most are now dominated by a handful of corporations that coordinate prices and production. This is true of banks, broadband pharmaceutical companies, airlines, meat-packers.

  • President Joe Biden:

    You got four basic meat-packing facilities. And you pay a hell of a lot more because there's only four.

  • Paul Solman:

    Now, it's not literally just 4, but four do dominate the market. And its not just meat.

  • President Joe Biden:

    You see what's happening with ocean carriers. During the pandemic, about half-a-dozen foreign-owned companies raised prices by as much as 1000 percent and made record profits.

  • Paul Solman:

    The traditional check on consolidation, of course, is antitrust enforcement. Reich worked at the Federal Trade Commission in the 1970s.

  • Robert Reich:

    Antitrust used to be a real thing. But since the early 1980s, antitrust has taken a backseat. In fact, some would say it's been thrown out of the car altogether. And big companies now routinely have the power to raise prices.

    Customers will note that there is almost an exact price matching among all major so-called competitors, because they're not really competing.

  • Paul Solman:

    So, what is to be done?

  • President Joe Biden:

    Tonight, I'm announcing a crackdown on those companies overcharging American businesses and consumers.

    (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

  • Paul Solman:

    A crackdown on the shipping industry by regulators.

  • Brian Deese, Director, National Economic Council:

    If they identify that there is market manipulation or price gouging going on.

  • Paul Solman:

    The president's national economic adviser, Brian Deese.

  • Brian Deese:

    And the agencies have now committed to partnering where the Department of Justice has significantly more enforcement resources and investigatory resources.

  • Paul Solman:

    And the administration says it's working to lessen concentration in the food sector too.

  • Brian Deese:

    You need scale to be competitive, and it takes capital to get to scale. So the USDA is actually right now working with smaller processors in rural areas across the country to try to give them grants, give them low-cost capital, so that they can scale, they can get into the game more quickly and easily.

  • Paul Solman:

    As the meat industry points out, though, it's been concentrated for decades, decades of low inflation, even in meat.

    In the end, this is any administration's challenge, to effect real change amidst economic forces bigger than all of us. Meanwhile, with company costs rising at about 10 percent, corporate profits are rising at 12.4 percent. That extra 2.5 percent or so seems to be at least part of the inflation we're all paying for right now.

    For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman.