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@slashdottir Price gouging and inflation are different phenomena, but we are getting both.

We are getting price gouging on non-discretionary things like food and medicine because the industries have become so consolidated that they can dictate prices and the government is not doing much regulation anymore. There were some shock effects from Covid and the war in Ukraine, but they should have settled out by now. Food still costs 30% more.

We are getting inflation, which is an overall devaluation of a currency on all sides, because governments allow the monetary supply to increase. They do this because it is an easy way out of fiscal crises in the near term, such as are caused by, for example, underwriting every single war on the planet or running a deficit year after year. Assuming that wages do rise along with the price of necessities, inflation is effectively a tax on savings, which destroys retirees trying to live off their previous earnings.

We now have economists arguing with a straight face that national debt doesn't matter if you're America with the almighty dollar and American exceptionalism, bald eagles and all that. Sigh. People will believe anything.