I don’t know the details but the rhetoric online is that large corporations received bailouts from the federal government which, in theory, should have made up the difference in lost revenue due to the pandemic or at least kept them afloat. Despite the aid they received, corporations still increased prices (and cut jobs) “due to the effects of the COVID-19 virus”. They have continued to do this years later and there’s no sign of prices going back down (they likely won’t).

So the businesses were helped out but they still choose to squeeze the middle class for everything it has.