Maybe soaring inflation isn't entirely bad, if it forces the looters to realize that there's no free lunch

who’s gonna pay for this?

Milton Freidman said that inflation was “taxation without legislation”. It’s human nature for the mob to vote itself a pay raise and loads of government goodies (to the tune of $5 billion recently, but going back to the dawn of civilization), and if our politicians won’t raise taxes on those who’ve been so ready to take from others, inflation provides a way to fix that.

Raise the minimum wage for retail clerks to $22 an hour, as was done last year in Portland, Maine? Okay, but that’s ultimately not going to come out of restauranteurs pockets —it can’t when the profit margin for that industry is 5% — it will be paid by the clerks themselves. See, eg:

Bidenflation has crushed food value meals

Value deals for fast food favorites like the Popeyes Big Box Deal and Little Caesars's Hot-N-Ready pizza are a thing of the past thanks to historic inflation during the first year of the Biden administration, NBC's Today Show reported Tuesday.

"With fast food chains and restaurants facing higher costs across the board, one thing you're probably seeing is that deals are not as cheap as they once were," NBC correspondent Tom Costello said. Restaurants are raising wages to confront labor shortages and "those costs get passed down to all of us. … Especially for restaurants where the margins are already very very thin, they can't afford to eat those extra costs."

Of course, amidst the crumbs of abandoned Happy Meals, there’s always Happy News:

The inflation surge has also wreaked havoc on dining establishments in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area, the Washington Free Beacon reported last week. The cost of many of the capital city's iconic dishes, like Falls Church's Peking Gourmet Inn signature duck, has jumped more than 30 percent.

Yes, inflation is, as Friedman also said, “a cruel tax”, but then, so is reality. As another economist, Herbert Stein (did you know he was the father of Ben Stein? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) said, “what can’t go on, won’t”.

We may be approaching that terminus.