I think it's a truer observation than not for instances that don't involve particular changes in production or material costs. Economists always say that prices rise when there's an increase in money in the economy (and certain groups in the economy always complain about too much government stimulus). But prices don't rise by themselves when there's more money floating about the economy - people raise them hoping to attract some of those extra dollars their way. And if it's not to cover their own rising costs (which would be covered by those particularly changes in production or material costs), that's greed.
Inflation occurs whenever prices to create a good or offer a service increase, regardless of its nature.
Simply raising someone’s salary- be it a COLA or a merit based boost or even blatant nepotism- is inflationary.
And by definition, an earned boost in pay
is not greed.
If a farmer’s costs of producing next year’s crop goes up due to a drought, flood, fungal infection, or safety regulations,
that’s not greed.
Yes, there are all kinds of ways to manipulate markets. But, for the most part, only the biggest players can pull those levers for their long term benefits*. If you’re in a competitive market, you can’t really dictate prices, market demand will be a downward pressure on prices.
Going back to my days as an Econ major in the 1980s, my profs did a good job of pointing out how the American corporate compensation culture distorted markets as compared to similarly sized companies abroad. Some even testified at antitrust hearings in DC to oppose certain mergers. They predicted that excessive executive salaries & other practices would make those companies less able to weather major economic shocks and crises.
FWIW, several of the ones used as exemplars have since diminished on the world economy, been bought out by foreign competitors, or outright collapsed. And still, many major American companies have executive compensation structures at odds with their international counterparts.
(Not that there isn’t corporate greed abroad, but it’s less pronounced in most of the other top-tier economies.)
* Which is the core reason why antitrust laws exist AND need to be vigorously but fairly enforced.