But the whole idea of a "free market" is that demand should cause new firms to be created and existing firms expanded to serve that demand. We've suffered from

But the whole idea of a "free market" is that demand should cause new firms to be created and existing firms expanded to serve that demand. We've suffered from an excess of capital desperately seeking profitable investments the past few years. Shouldn't this be an opportunity? To say otherwise is to say the free market doesn't work. Most of inflation right now is being driven by shortages, firm profit taking, and wage increases. The first two can be solved and should be solved by increasing supply and competition. The third is not a problem at all. The capital side has taken the lion's share of productivity increases over the past 30 years and that has certainly impacted consumer's ability to spend. Wage increases are a good thing in this case and will drive further improvements in productivity and automation.