Over the last two years, the federal government has added over 2 trillion dollars directly into consumers' hands. Aggregate prices has gone up by... slightly le

Over the last two years, the federal government has added over 2 trillion dollars directly into consumers' hands. Aggregate prices has gone up by... slightly less than 2 trillion dollars. It's not rocket science - there is more money in the economy but the same amount (and often less) things. It's relatively simple to hit the brakes on inflation by taking money out of the economy (either increasing interest rates, or increasing taxation). But it's easy to understand why there is little political capital to do so. Regardless,because this money came as a large one-time lump, the inflation is probably "transitory" - which is a fancy way of saying that once prices catch up to the money supply, there is no reason to believe it will continue.