www.alkoholpolitik.ch

With the recession food and beverage prices have dropped some to match the dip in consumer spending. Makes sense. So why then is the cost of beer going up? According to a recent MSN Money article, Why Every Cold Beer Costs You More, the biggest beer companies–MillerCoors, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Pabst Brewing–have increased their prices by nearly 4 percent so far this year, and they expect their prices to continue to climb through the remainder of 2009. These brewers say the increase is paying for “…profit growth and pricier commodities used to make beer.”
The real reason for the price hikes is a tad more embarrassing: skyrocketing executive pay. According to the MSN article, compensation for Bud executives rose by 92 percent: “The top 13 executives made $73 million in the first half of 2009, or $5.6 million each, on average — up from $38 million a year before.” This is on top of a 79 percent pay increase in 2008. (Source: Marin Institute, 9/29/09)