By Ben Ritz
Democrats have been struggling to respond to the highest inflation America has seen in 40 years. Many on the left are pushing a bogus “greedflation” narrative that blames rising prices on corporations’ desire to maximize profits, as if that were some new phenomenon. Others have proposed to compensate consumers for higher prices with cash handouts that will likely only make the problem worse. And Republicans, who sharply criticize Democrats’ approach to inflation, have offered no constructive ideas of their own for tackling the problem. Thankfully, the moderate New Democrat Coalition (NDC) came forward today with a pragmatic 24-page Action Plan to Fight Inflation — and it’s the best inflation-fighting blueprint to come out of Congress yet.
Fighting inflation requires an understanding of what drives the problem. First, supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic reduced the availability of goods and services. Then demand for those goods and services, bolstered by excessive government stimulus, reached unprecedented levels as the world began returning to normal. The result: too many dollars chasing too few goods and services, thus driving up prices. The problem was only made worse when Russia’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine cut off food and fuel exports.
