And he believes corporate decisions are partly to blame.

Of course you have to pass on some increases in prices to customers, but those inputs are coming back down and that hasnt been reflected in the price of goods, Ulukaya told CNNs Before the Bell newsletter.

I think food makers have to be very conscious that people are having a hard time affording food, he said, wondering if such companies are succumbing to financial market pressures that demand they show growth and strong metrics.

While politicians have long accused companies of price gouging, the idea that inflation might be caused by corporate margins, rather than commodity shortages, wage increases, or other macroeconomic conditions, is gaining traction among mainstream economists.

So-called greedflation suggests firms are quick to raise prices to pass increased costs onto consumers and protect their margins, then are much slower to reduce prices once inflationary pressures recedeif they reduce prices at all. 

Commodity prices, particularly in food and energy, spiked in the months following Russias invasion of Ukraine last February.

Economies have also faced higher labor costs, as wages increase thanks to a shortage of labor following the disruptions of the COVID pandemic. 

Yet corporate profit margins stayed at high, if not record, levels throughout 2022.

Thats continued into 2023, with companies like Nestle citing responsible pricing to explain their ability to maintain revenue despite inflation.

Food prices are finally starting to decline in the U.S., with Marchs consumer price index report showing the first monthly decline in grocery store prices since September 2020. (The food-at-home index is still up 8.3% year-on-year).

Its a much less rosy picture in Europe, where food costs are still elevated despite cooling inflation overall.

While prices in the Eurozone increased by 6.9% in March year-on-year, food prices surged by a whopping 15.4% over the same period. European economists, including at the European Central Bank, now recognize profit margins as a fundamental cause behind the regions inflation. 

Its unlikely to get better soon, with researchers at German financial company Allianz projecting in April that food prices would contribute almost 30% of European inflation this year, up from 15% in 2021.

Allianzs report also points to greedflation playing a small but significant role in food prices.

The companys strategists note that the share of European food inflation that is unexplainedin other words, not driven by increases in producer or energy priceshas noticeably increased.

For many cancer patients, access to quality care and education is out of reach. The financial barriersand fear of seeking help because of themcan keep people away from the care they need. One study found even after treatment, nearly 50% of cancer survivors faced medical debt associated with their care, with the vast majority unsure how they will afford future care. 

There is this dramatic loss of income and if you are a single parent with cancer or with a child with cancer, your income is zero, said Carla Tardif, CEO of Family Reach, at Fortunes Brainstorm Health Conference in Marina Del Rey, Calif. last week. Families really quickly get turned upside down. 

Health equity is at the forefront of addressing cancer carethe second leading cause of death nationwide; One-third of cancer deaths in this country could be prevented by removing socioeconomic barriers, according to the American Association of Cancer Research. 

Your cancer affects your finances, Tardif said. Your finances dramatically affect your cancer. 

Health systems must address the historic distrust in providers, by prioritizing culturally competent care and assessing the additional barriers people face post diagnosis, she adds. Mitigating systemic barriers around housing, hunger, and trust are imperative, Tardif said, whose company Family Reach intervenes to address the social determinants of health through housing and meal service partnerships. 

The families that come to us, they are desperate, she said. They are living in their car 

Medicine has had tremendous progress in cancer research and treatment in the last few decades, but until people have access, we arent winning the war against cancer, Tardif says. 

When you think about the hope that comes from cancer treatment, we now know the importance of research and sub-specialty care, said Robert Stone, president and CEO of City of Hope, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center with sites across the U.S, on the panel. The key is making that available for the 4 out of every 5 cancer patients who cant make their way to an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. 

This means normalizing routine screening, providing comprehensive education on treatment plans and risk factors, and addressing social determinants of health disproportionately impacting minority communities.  

There is also a need to address psychological barriers delaying screenings, and therefore, cancer treatments due to stigma. Colon cancer is one prime example, said Dr. Folasade May, assistant professor of medicine at UCLA Health, on the panel. 

We suffer because we have this disease thats highly preventable because colonoscopies work, but there is so much stigma even about talking about it that no one wants to participate, said May. For example, people often assume colorectal cancer is an old persons disease, she adds. Following the death of Chadwick Boseman from colon cancer at age 43, May hopes more people feel educated on the need for preventative screening. 

The barriers to comprehensive cancer care are for reaching, but intervening at the forefront and building trust between providers and patients is the way forward, the panelists say. 

We are here to connect the dots so that you have a financial plan, a financial care team in addition to your medical care team, and thats how we will increase cancer survival, Tardif said. 

I learned the secrets of the industry firsthand in 2008 as a Wall Street quant trader, who joined Goldman Sachs as a mathematician a few months before Lehman Brothers unraveled. I am sharing those secrets so bank customers can ask better questions and make better decisions about where to store their money.

Your cash is not sitting in the bank

As soon as a paycheck or a business deposit reaches a bank, its put to work. Most people think they are safely parking money in a vault, but in reality, they are investing in a banks portfolio of investments, mostly loans.

Theres a good reason for this. The more than 9,000 banks in the U.S. provide a critical service of lending to consumers and businesses. I sit on the board of a community bank and have seen firsthand how local bankers help their local businesses and customers.

The situation gets more complicated when deposits are used for bigger and riskier leverage.

Big banks make the biggest bets

Essentially all banks make bets. They bet on a homeowner to pay back a mortgage. They bet on new businesses with credit lines. They bet on what they know about the economy to buy treasury bonds. The bigger the bank, the bigger the bets as they seek larger returns from complicated, riskier financial instruments.

As a Wall Street quant trader during the 2008 financial collapse, I saw how the repo markets (which represent lending between banks) collapsed overnight as nearly worthless mortgage-backed securities destroyed Lehman Brothers. The bets were massiveand built on a hollow foundation of bad loans.

The history of Big Bank excesses keeps repeating itself. Silicon Valley Banks bad bet on long-term Treasury bonds looks quaint compared to what happened in 2012 at JPMorgan Chase. One infamous trader, known as the London Whale, lost more than $6 billion through risky trades including complex hedging strategies with credit default swaps.

Banks need to fail sometimes

Its inherent in the banking system and its business model that some banks will fail during moments of economic or financial shock. Bank busts are the release valve in the system.

History is riddled with crises, from the Great Depression to the savings-and-loan failures in both the 1980s and 1990s, as well as one-off failures. Thats why banks are heavily regulated. However, those regulations are imperfect. They evolve and must catch up with the latest financial risk-taking strategy behind a new cycle of failures and crises.

The Great Depression led to depositor insurance. The 2008 financial crisis led to stricter capital requirements through Basel III. The current shock is leading to discussions about bringing back stricter requirements for regional banks and increasing the amount covered by depositor insurance.

While no one wants to see bank failures, they need to be accepted in a healthy system in order to shine a light on what is broken. What needs to be protected is the depositors day-to-day operations.

Banks cannot take unlimited deposits

The more money banks take in, the more places they need to find to lend, invest, and make money. That looks good on the surfaceuntil one digs into a banks balance sheet: As they lend and invest more, they need more capital to meet regulatory requirements.

Put another way, a bank cannot go viral. Banks typically are required to hold capital representing nearly 10% of their assets (though the exact ratios vary). That means for every $10 million of new deposits, they would need to find $1 million of new capital. If the numbers rise too quickly, they simply cannot keep up.

What does this mean for deposits? Just as a bank run can lead to insolvency as withdrawals exceed reserves, a deposit rush hurts business as cash exceeds a banks ability to lend and raise capital. Following the pandemic, banks awash in deposits were even asking businesses to deposit less and redirecting them to money market accounts with different requirements.

Banks run on borrowed money

Banks dont have your money. Every day, as deposits flow in and withdrawals flow out, each bank has an excess or deficit of cash. To make sure that the trillions of dollars in daily wire transfers and payments arrive on time, they lend to each other.

There is an enormous overnight lending market built on complex tools to manage liquidity across all the banks. One of the most common is repurchase agreements, which require the posting of short-term assets such as ultra-safe Treasury Bills or high-grade commercial paper as collateral.

One weak spot in this system is the potential for bank runs among the banks themselves. When other banks lose faith in one of their peers, they may halt their overnight lending with that player. The dominoes then fall swiftly, as happened with Lehman Brothers in 2008. The at-risk bank can no longer operate, and its collapse risks causing a massive contagion across the industry.

Whats next?

The recent bank failures may have felt like 2008 deja vu because they similarly expose the weak spots in the system that have not been resolved. While the circumstances are always different, the reality is that we constantly go through cyclesfrom credit booms to credit buststhat both spur economic growth and test the limits of the banking system.

This latest test is sparking again a much-needed conversation on how to protect depositors and avoid the potential for a wider contagion. Regulators and bankers are examining a range of possible solutions, such as the need for higher or unlimited FDIC insurance, the launch of a digital dollar, more direct depositor access to the U.S. Treasury, and even a role for stablecoins.

As we search for solutions, lets not forget what really matters: Disentangling everyday paychecks and payrolls from the risk on any given banks balance sheet.

All of us deserve to know that the money we rely on to pay bills and run our businesses is there when we need it.

Stephane Lintner, Ph.D., is the co-founder and CEO of Jiko and a former quant trader at Goldman Sachs.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

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