It's always seemed extremely disingenuous to lump all price rises into a single number called "inflation". It makes "inflation" seem like some kind of magic for

It's always seemed extremely disingenuous to lump all price rises into a single number called "inflation". It makes "inflation" seem like some kind of magic force that just happens and can only be solved by the equally magic application of something like fiscal policy. But it's not magic, price rises are the result of active and deliberate choices by companies and countries which could be solved with actual policy changes. Housing prices go up because there is a shortage of housing and the housing that exists is being used as investments. The solutions could be to make it easy to build more housing and also to make policy changes to encourage other ways to save money. Energy prices go up because we've wedded ourselves to fossil fuels that are controlled by very few players who can set whatever prices they want. The solutions might be to diversify energy sources and reduce energy consumption. Food prices go up because of energy prices and because food companies are gouging for profits. The solutions might be to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels for food production and to not allow food production to be a for profit enterprise. The prices of other goods went up because there was a global pandemic that disrupted supply chains around the world. The solution might be to build a more resilient system for providing goods rather than one that's cut to the bones to increase profits. There are real solutions to the problems that cause price rises but as long as we treat "inflation" as some sort of magic force in the universe those solutions will continue to be ignored in favor of magical thinking and political arguing.