Here is another way to look at it. Infusion of trillions in cash into the economy increases the money supply thus reducing the vale of said cash. As you seem to understand it companies hoarding the cash are the problem but if they are hoarding the cash it's technically not in circulation. If it's not in circulation then how can it dilute the value of the money in your pocket ? It can't. If the government gave me a $2,000 and I sit on it and I sit on it for a decade that money technically was spent by the government but it's not available to anyone it's just a number on their ledger .
The problem we are facing is 100% the result of government action from COVID until now. COVID empowered through fairy dust and fear for government to define some businesses as essential and the rest nonessential and as such they ruined the lives of millions by closing down businesses out of fear not science . Magically you couldn't catch COVID at Walmart but you would say shopping in my store .
Then government says well we have to help everyone out and we will do COVID relief and stimulus. Everyone now gets $600 a week plus 100% unemployment . This lasted 18 months. At the sane time government tells landlords and banks you must defer taking rent and allow those who want to defer mortgage payments to do so. These actions infused a lot of cash into the hands of people directly. Imagine getting free $2,400 a month and at the same time not having to pay $1,200 or $3,00 a month in rent ? That's potentially a $5,000 swing for a lot of people.
The.n you had another round of stimulus last spring coupled with energy policy to reduce oil and gas supplies with increased permitting , regulatory delays coupled with reduced. Access to the resources . These moves were all done by a stroke of the pen and we saw gas prices and diesel prices tick up within days of signing executive orders.
Everything you buy right here right now is trucked or the supply chain of it touched by a truck. Trucks run on diesel . Those costs are passed onto the end user of the product which are ultimately passed onto you and I . When my shipping costs goes up or wholesale supply goes up I raise prices . Energy costs are a huge driver of product inflation. Fuel costs have doubled to tripled and businesses are not going to eat those costs. We are.
So, from where I sit inflation we have today is from bad fiscal policy of both Trump and Biden, bad COVID policy of shutting the country down and bad energy policy creating the perfect storm we are all facing today . I am sorry Chemmie my friend ,Amazon or who ever sitting on cash is not the reason a gallon of milk has gone from $1.79 a gallon a year and half ago to $3.79 at Publix or $5.89 at my local IGA. It's not the reason chicken wings are expensive or steak is through the roof or any other food prices going up. It's the price of energy for shipping it and the lights and refrigeration costs and then factor in labor issues employers are force to pay a lot more post COVID for labor than precovid . All those costs flow to us the consumer.
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