The Inflation Disaster Is Collateral Damage from Lockdowns
The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Jeffrey Tucker
The outrageous prices at grocery stores and gas stations—the highest ever recorded and increasing at rates too fast to calculate with precision—are yet more collateral damage from the initial lockdowns two years ago.
Apparently it’s going to get much worse. At some point, no one will remember how this all began. Maybe everyone has already forgotten.
Tucker asked a friend: Do you think people understand the relationship between the March 2020 lockdowns and the wild price increases two years later? The answer was: No way.
That is surprising, but also understandable. There has been so much flimflam coming from the media and government spokespeople for so long, so many attempts to demonize and scapegoat.
In addition, for many people, the past 24 months have seemed like one big blur when everything they thought about the world has been blasted to pieces. It’s disorienting. After a while, one can get used to the chaos and just accept it without attempting to account for it. The lines of causality too become blurry.
The latest mess—and this doesn’t even account for the shocking talk of nuclear war that is now in the air—affects all states in the US, not just the blue ones that stayed closed much longer than red ones. Red states have felt normal, but now they must deal with rising prices for everything plus random goods shortages.
No one is spared when they use the same currency and inhabit the same global economic environment.
Up for discussion: Cash and mattresses; the inevitable inflation; and the hunt for value.