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One of many myths being endlessly repeated on this inflationary cycle is the parable that rising costs are attributable to greed.
For instance, Democratic senator Bob Casey is operating round Pennsylvania campaigning on the thought whereas claiming he’ll clear up the issue when you re-elect him. Kamala Harris is doing the identical.
However the truth that greed doesn’t trigger inflation is apparent if we simply ask why costs throughout the board have surged since 2020. Since then, shopper costs rose greater than twenty %, knocking off a few fourth of the worth of each greenback you maintain.
Is that every one as a result of greed all of the sudden acquired worse after 2020 for some unknown cause? And, if that’s the case, why is it that greed was magically barely an issue in any respect for a few years over the past decade when official CPI inflation charges typically got here in between 1 and a pair of %?
There isn’t any rationalization for this greed thesis, and the reason being that there’s solely one explanation for usually rising costs— the factor we may name worth inflation. The one explanation for that is financial inflation—that’s, a rising cash provide. Or, as generally acknowledged extra casually: printing new cash.
So, if the query is why did we see the buyer worth index go up by greater than 20 % over the previous 4 years—with dwelling costs rising by 50 % and wages not maintaining? The reply is that the central banks actually created trillions of recent {dollars} throughout that interval. (After we say they “printed” this cash, we don’t imply they bodily printed it, though they often do. After we say the central financial institution “printed money, we mean the central bank created new money out of nothing.)
Recall how during the covid lockdowns, the government was paying people to stay home and not work. Where did this money come from? The central bank printed it. There was not money to be had from the Treasury, of course, as the federal government itself was already running huge deficits.
The central bank created so much new money in fact, that the money supply has increased by 32 percent since early 2020. And nearly one quarter of all the dollars that are out there right now, were created since then. These are astounding numbers.
And, we can go back further than that. You want to know why stock prices and real estate prices have been going up so relentlessly for more than ten years? It’s because since 2009, when we began the age of quantitative easing, the money supply is up by 185 percent.
For many years, the monetary inflation appeared primarily as rising prices in assets like housing. That’s why CPI inflation seemed “low” for a very long time between 2010 and 2020. However, ultimately, the piper have to be paid for relentless financial enlargement of the kind we’ve skilled since 2009. The frenzy of cash creation that occurred since 2020—and the rising costs that adopted—have made this clear.
[Read More: “Money-Supply Growth Accelerates as Wall Street Demands Even More Easy Money“ by Ryan McMaken]
In fact, politicians at the moment are making an attempt to have it each methods. First, they’re claiming that there isn’t a lot worth inflation at all, and Bidenomics already solved that in some way.
On the identical factor they’re saying that sure, there may be worth inflation, however it’s the fault of grasping companies who’re making an attempt to price-gouge you.
Neither of those claims are true, although.
Costs aren’t falling, and even flat. By the federal government’s measure, meals now prices 26 % greater than it did solely 4 years in the past. And costs nonetheless rising. Final month, the feds’ personal measure stated there was 3 % development within the CPI. That’s 3 % on high of all the opposite will increase of latest years. And, the farther down you might be on the financial ladder, the decrease the percentages your earnings has come near maintaining with that. In the meantime, dwelling costs have risen far past the CPI measure.
After which there’s that different declare that if there may be any worth inflation in any respect, it’s all attributable to greed.
But, the true explanation for rising costs is true in entrance of us. It’s 15 years of cash printing to bail out banks that began again in 2009. And on high of this, we acquired much more of that newly printed COVID cash.
The issue isn’t greed, it’s the expansion within the cash provide.
Its elected officers and their mates who CAUSED this downside, after all, however they actually aren’t going to inform you that.
Worth inflation is NEVER attributable to greed. It’s all the time attributable to a rising cash provide. The cash provide has grown big-time since 2020, and now we pay much more for meals and housing. Extra: https://t.co/4tJNgoq1Th pic.twitter.com/s5g5bDiKz4
— Ryan McMaken (@ryanmcmaken) August 30, 2024
