I'm thinking of sending this article to my kids — and maybe Ol' Depndables, who insists that Milton Friedman killed himself

coming to your local grocery store as soon as sticker supply can meat demand

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon

It’s Black Friday, ‘70s-Style. “Strawberry prices go up in the fall because the supply is lower; apples are cheap, because they are abundant. Prices of one good relative to another change, and induce us to shop effectively. That’s normal. Inflation is different. Inflation describes all prices and wages going up at the same time, straining supply throughout the economy. That’s the situation right now.”

Plus: “Widespread inflation always comes from people wanting to buy more of everything than the economy can supply. Where did all that demand come from? In its response to the pandemic, the U.S. government created about 2.5 trillion new dollars, and sent checks to people and businesses. It borrowed another $2.5 trillion, and sent more checks to people and businesses. Relative to a $22 trillion economy, and $17 trillion of existing (2020) federal debt, that’s a lot of money. People are now spending this money, the economy can’t keep up, and prices are rising. Milton Friedman once joked that the government could easily create inflation by dropping money from helicopters. That’s pretty much what our government did.”

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.