Nah the pressure is to produce more for less.
Sure part of that increases profit margin and doesn't get seen at the cash register but it was once upon a time New, improved and at a better price.
Now it's decrease serving size and maintain the high price.
2008 was when they stopped pretending economics mattered and it was proven that the economy is for certain people to bleed dry.
not entirely
as a manufacturer on top of wanting to make more money via lowering expenses, a main driver of efficiency is to keep business
people truthfully do not realize how hard it is to keep sales, and not only keep sales but keep the right mixture of sales for the company to have a path forward
as COGS go up there are many products that will just not handle the price increase in the market, so its either:
loose the business because of a higher quote given to customer
or many times the customer sales just tail off because they are out of the proper price structure for a product range
if real eggs doubled in price but "egg beaters" remained the same...no one would buy whole eggs unless necessary
so the chicken/egg farm must become more efficient in operating expenses as the feed/COGS is ever increasing
now people say "well the egg farm should see it coming and be agile enough in their business model, so they should start selling product to egg beater"...easier said than done
when selling you are not selling a product you are taking their money that they do not want to give you...in turn for a product
i actually dont think the economy is being used differently than before, i think peoples expectations and quality of life is unrealistic
if there is demand for cell phones then a manufacturer will create the product as a certain price with certain features
its not the manufacturers fault that people waste money on grub hub, and streaming services rather than cook at home and get rabbit ears on the the TV
personally i think quality of life/ what we consider "poor" has changed from when i was young and im not a boomer which has caused ripple effects
i knew many people that were really dirt poor, now i know many couples that make minimum wage and both have iphones...thats the real problem