This is the part of the whole thing that pisses me off the most. They’ll use anything to justify an increase but never ever bring it back down.

Everyone is poorer for it except the assholes can never get enough.

Cost of doing business goes up, price of goods goes up.

Cost of business goes down, price of goods stays up, profit margins increase. After all, if energy costs are down, everyone can afford to buy more, right? And then rent goes up because it can.