Nothing will stop inflation - ever. Just look at old photographs from around 1900, where you see signs for beef at 20 cents per pound, or old hotel bills from the 19th Century with rooms at 30 cents per night.
Prices go up.... all the time. In some years faster, in others slower. But always up.
(Showing my age here, but) I remember paperback books costing 25 cents, a hamburger costing 15 cents, and gas as low as 17 cents per gallon. I remember school lunches costing 10 cents and a carton of milk just 2 cents.
But always up. Not quite always. There have been periods of deflation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation#United_States
Isn't Best's piece just a bit disingenuous? She says,
With inflation hitting 5.7 per cent in March, we are facing a perfect storm of inflationary pressures from a combination of supply chain bottlenecks, pent-up demand and massive increases in energy prices from Russian sanctions.
True enough. But she fails to mention the inflationary stimulus of paying people to stay at home and not be productive. Unless that is hidden in 'pent-up demand'.
There is a considerable debate as to whether the American Rescue plan was a mistake or not. It did worsen inflation, but it is only in combination with other factors that inflation has become intolerable.
By the same token, this only, at best, indicates something the Biden administration did that it should not have done. It doesn't suggest anything that can be done now about inflation. And it doesn't go, so far as I can tell, to show that we can reduce inflation by not printing money.
7 comments:
Nothing will stop inflation - ever. Just look at old photographs from around 1900, where you see signs for beef at 20 cents per pound, or old hotel bills from the 19th Century with rooms at 30 cents per night.
Prices go up.... all the time. In some years faster, in others slower. But always up.
(Showing my age here, but) I remember paperback books costing 25 cents, a hamburger costing 15 cents, and gas as low as 17 cents per gallon. I remember school lunches costing 10 cents and a carton of milk just 2 cents.
Then Carter got elected.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL_vHDjG5Wk
I knew Martin Sheen. Jimmy Carter is no Martin Sheen.
But always up. Not quite always. There have been periods of deflation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation#United_States
Isn't Best's piece just a bit disingenuous? She says,
With inflation hitting 5.7 per cent in March, we are facing a perfect storm of inflationary pressures from a combination of supply chain bottlenecks, pent-up demand and massive increases in energy prices from Russian sanctions.
True enough. But she fails to mention the inflationary stimulus of paying people to stay at home and not be productive. Unless that is hidden in 'pent-up demand'.
bmiller,
Then Carter got elected.
You've forgotten Ford's WIP buttons?
There is a considerable debate as to whether the American Rescue plan was a mistake or not. It did worsen inflation, but it is only in combination with other factors that inflation has become intolerable.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/10/09/inflation-economy-biden-covid/
By the same token, this only, at best, indicates something the Biden administration did that it should not have done. It doesn't suggest anything that can be done now about inflation. And it doesn't go, so far as I can tell, to show that we can reduce inflation by not printing money.
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