We’ve been told inflation is caused by greedy corporations. We’ve been told that inflation is Putin’s fault. Other people just want to blame COVID-19. But are any of these really the root cause of inflation?
Economist Dr. Antony P. Mueller says none of these excuses really account for the rash of rising prices we’ve seen in recent months. At its core, this inflation is caused by a deeply flawed monetary system that allows central banks to create money out of thin air.
There is more talk of student loan forgiveness. Supporters of these schemes argue that the whole system is inherently unfair, although they rarely talk about who would pay for student loan forgiveness. They also seem oblivious to the fact that the federal government created this problem to begin with.
With the impact of sanctions tanking the ruble, the Russian central bank announced it would buy gold from local banks at a fixed rate. The move had the desired effect. The ruble quickly recovered. But the Central Bank of Russia abandoned the de facto gold standard almost as fast as it implemented it.
Why?
Everybody and their brother is an expert on inflation now. And everybody thinks they can pinpoint the reason for rising prices. It’s Putin! Or maybe it’s greedy corporations. Or was it COVID?
As Ron Paul explains, it was none of the above.
The blame for this inflationary fire falls squarely on the shoulders of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The inflation freight train continues to barrel ahead. Not only are consumer prices at historically high levels; producer prices continue to run ahead of CPI, casting some doubt on the “peak inflation” narrative in the mainstream.
Despite the fact that inflation has been running hot for over a year, the mainstream pundits, government officials and central bankers can’t seem to nail down what’s going on. First, they said printing trillions wouldn’t cause inflation. Then they called inflation transitory. They said it was the pandemic. They pointed their fingers at supply chains and “excess demand.” Now they’re blaming Putin.
The annualized interest payment on the $30-plus trillion US national debt increased by over $16 billion in just six months. With the COVID crisis seemingly in the rear-view mirror, the economy allegedly strong, and the Fed raising interest rates to supposedly fight inflation, you’d think this might be a good time for the government to address its spending problem.
Nope.
Last month, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by one-quarter percent in its first salvo against rampant inflation. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has indicated that the central bank will get more aggressive in its inflation fight in the coming months. Conventional wisdom holds that monetary tightening will reverse the impacts of the extraordinarily loose monetary policy we’ve seen over the last two years and bring inflation under control.
Will it though?
The Consumer Price Index hit a 40-year-high of 7.9% in February. Of course, it’s even worse than that. The official government numbers are rigged to understate rising prices.
But inflation doesn’t just hit us with rising prices. In some cases, we pay more, but we get less. This is known as shrinkflation.
The Consumer Price Index data for February just came out. It was smoking hot yet again with prices up 0.8% month-on-month and 7.9% on an annual basis. Keep in mind, this was before the big spike in oil prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
And inflation is even worse than the official government numbers suggest.
Inflation is smoking hot. As measured by the consumer price index, the inflation rate is at 7.5%. And the cooked government CPI number understates inflation.
Peter Schiff says the inflation tsunami is just getting started. The Fed is talking about an inflation fight, but it’s more likely to drive the US economy into a recession. And Schiff says that will make inflation even worse.
The Fed is supposed to make the economy more stable. But it’s clear the real impact is the exact opposite. The Fed causes great harm. And as Ron Paul pointed out in a recent article, it hurts the average American worker the most.
