Corporate bosses basically admit to massive price-fixing

Legally, price "gouging" refers to taking advantage of disasters like hurricanes, epidemics, etc., to run prices way up on items people have no choice but to buy. Which is the only reason that I'm not using "gouging," here.

An analysis released Tuesday shows that executives at some of the top publicly traded companies in the United States aren't exactly being coy about using their pricing power to hike costs for consumers and boost revenues and profits—which are then dished out to wealthy shareholders.

The progressive watchdog group Accountable.US noted in its new report that "some of the largest general consumer S&P 500 companies have admitted to benefiting from increased prices as their net profits increased year-over-year and they rewarded shareholders with billions in handouts."

The report quotes directly from the executives of Kimberly-Clark, PepsiCo, General Mills, Tyson Foods, and other major U.S. companies. - Common Dreams