‘Corporate price gouging’: sleight of hand for troubled economic waters ahead

Corporate profits have actually remained steady

Mr. Fels also picks on supermarkets, again without any proper analysis.

Ten years ago, Woolworths made a net profit before abnormals of $2.45 billion with a net profit margin of 4 percent. Last year, it was $1.652 billion with a net profit margin of 2.6 percent.

Rather than "price gouging" it has been giving increasingly better value for money over the last decade.

At margins like that, if Woollies dropped its prices by around 4 percent, it would no longer be a viable business, and that drop would be a one-off.

Mr. Fels also blames the banks.

Again, this charge does not hold up.

The return on equity of the major Australian banks has declined by around half since 2009, while their interest rate margin has declined by about a third since 2000.

(Reserve Bank of Australia)

(Reserve Bank of Australia)

Qantas is another target, but if you take the net of the whole of CEO Alan Joyce's tenure, it comes to about zero with losses equalling profits, and this was achieved by gross underinvestment in new airplanes.