Short version: We turned the world economy off and then on again, so of course there would be some rigidities and bottlenecks leading to cost/price hikes. This was not a story of "too much money sloshing around," as high corporate profits paired with moderate wage gains showed this was also a consequence of corporations flexing their market power opportunistically. Because of this, contractionary monetary policy will do harm for no (good) reason.A simple eyeballing of this chart really tells the story of inflation in 2022. It was a first half of the year story, not a back half of the year story. pic.twitter.com/5aoFOdUb2s
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) January 12, 2023
I guess there was a reason, and that is despite all the rhetoric about JERB CREATION, the powers that be absolutely hate full employment. Never have to wonder if that is a conspiracy theory again!