How 'excuseflation' is keeping prices and corporate profits high

The key question is, in an economy where the consumer continues to spend freely, how sticky this 'excuseflation' proves to be

“Whether it’s rye flour, or bird flu that impacts eggs,” said Ken Jarosch, the owner of Jarosch Bakery,  “when it makes national news, just running a business, it’s an opportunity to increase the prices without getting a whole bunch of complaining from the customers.”

It’s not the kind of thing you typically hear a business owner express publicly but Jarosch was simply stating late last year his philosophy about when it’s safe for a business such as his — a midsized bakery in the Chicago suburbs — to hike prices for cookies, cakes and other carbs. He had the idea long