> they are always maniacally monitoring how fast or slowly consumers buy up Of course, but consumer behaviour on most items is relatively fixed, and largely r

> they are always maniacally monitoring how fast or slowly consumers buy up Of course, but consumer behaviour on most items is relatively fixed, and largely reactive to shocks. That is very visible in the current situation: we had little or no inflation for 20 years and then BANG the cost of natural gas and wheat skyrockets because of herr Putin, and suddenly we're in an inflation-heavy world. That's not consumer-driven, that's supply-driven. > trying to politically ostracise 'the other side'. I'm not ostracising anyone. The fact is that prices are set by business owners to maximize their profits - that's just how it is. Consumers can only react to that. Your quixotic comments try to blame consumers for "impulsively" paying higher prices for food or basic supplies, and that's just preposterous. > consumers in my OP just because they are a largest group of people, because it also includes business owners No, it does not. Gas-industry CEOs don't bid on gas supplies for their own garage or "impulsively" because they like it; they speculate on a scarce resource, rationally taking opportunities to maximize their gain - and that is what drives inflation, the selling side engaged in rational maximization of profits. Same for petrol, wheat, etc. Everything else, including final consumers, can only react in cascade effects, and trying to blame them is just cruel.