About the only benefit to doing house/dog/cat/roach sitting for a brother-in-law in DC, is that, oft times, the NYT doesn't show up, thus compelling me to do the Post puzzle. The horror! Made more mysterious, given that the front-page section of the Times is, at minimum, 50% Washington reporting. I suppose it's parochial envy. So, one of those days meant getting Robert Samuelson's column. Again, not for the first time, an econ/business reporter tells only a bit of the story of 'flation. (You'll have to deal with their stupid ad policy!)
Even if you choose not to kneel at their feet, here's the point: Samuelson, as many others, writes about the failure of economists to predict episodes of 'flation, both in- and de-. And, he tosses up his hands without offering an explanation. Which is, simply, that most in the econ biz curry to the idea that there is only wage-push inflation, all the while ignoring the fact that the growth in GDP since the Great Recession has been driven by most of said growth going to the 1% (and nearby). No mo money, no inflation. IOW, income inequality has the beneficial (for some) side-effect of stable prices. No mo money, no price hikes. Well, drugs excepted. And tariffs.
Events drive the data, not the other way round. At the macro level, anyway.
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