Who Caused Inflation?

In the great debate of about the causes of inflation, I believe that Americans have been allowed to forget some very important dates during the pandemic.

During the fall of 2020, economists felt that a second stimulus would be required to get the economy securely on track. On December 21, 2020, President Trump signed the into law a $600 per recipient stimulus package that was just passed by Congress (https://www.foley.com/insights/publications/2020/12/federal-covid-relief-bill-passed-by-congress/).

What is not recalled is that President Trump signed the $600 stimulus bill the law over objection. He wanted the stimulus to be $2000 per recipient. Accordingly, on December 28, 2020, while Trump was still president, the House passed the $1,400 per recipient stimulus plan. A modification of the original bill was passed on March 6, 2021. It passed the Senate on March 10, 2021 and was signed the law on March 21, 2021. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Rescue_Plan_Act_of_2021 ).

One of the interesting aspects of human psychology, which often can seem merciful, but in this case might be non-utilitarian, is the ability of people to forget unpleasant times. The pandemic had thrown the worldwide supply chain into chaos. Policies which may have been wise in an epidemiological sense, but not in an economic or political sense, led to people being confined to their homes for lengthy periods of time and stopped the normal manufacture and trade of goods and services. Some degree of dislocation was inevitable. However, sending $1400…