by George Calhoun
Forbes
It has been a hot topic in an election year.
[…] After decades of quiescence, inflation surged in 2021 and 2022. The annualized Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased from about 1.5% to over 9%. The CPI has cooled off since, but prices today are 21% higher overall than before the pandemic.
[…] What caused this painful deviation from stable prices and happy times? Economists have various theories, but one explanation that plays well to the general audience is the idea that “greedy corporations” have engaged in “price gouging” – raising their prices faster than their costs were increasing, or keeping their prices high even as costs come down – squeezing the consumer in a “frenzy of profiteering.”