The Inflation Rate has become a trending topic in the Western press lately and for good reason. The rates of Currency Depreciation have reached levels not seen since the 1980s, when the Stagflation from the preceding decade came to an end. The pace in which Inflation rose during the Coronavirus Pandemic occurred last year in early 2021. That was when the Market/Mixed Economies of the West began to reopen their activities and resume normal conditions.

A rise in the consumption of everyday goods and services coincided with concurring complications in the logistics of their supply chains, causing some items to become less available. Electronics, namely superconductors, were among the most vulnerable due to the limited production rates when the Pandemic occurred. Another trend was the rapid reengagement of the workforces as their national economies began their swift recoveries. While people readjusted to the Pandemic by working from home and limiting their presence at the workspace (to minimize the possibility of infection), not every privatized commercial firm recovered. Service Sector firms which required physical contact, such as hospitality or restaurants, did not recover as well as others where digital information technologies facilitated the ability to work from home.

Originally, it was proposed by economists that the Inflation was going to be temporary, that the rate of Currency Depreciation would subside at some point. The same was also true for the logistical issues within the supply chain because transportation firms were expecting personnel to either return to be replaced by somebody else more willing to take their place. However, as the last few months of 2021 had shown, the Inflation Rate persisted well into this year. Not only did the Inflation Rate persist, it also increased to a discernible extent.

Consider the following chart from the European Central Bank (ECB). Note the fluctuations on the bar graph for the US.

Based on that graph, the Inflation Rate in the US rose significantly between the months of March and April 2021. It kept rising throughout the rest of 2021. As reference, here is another ECB-published chart from last year.

Here’s another chart showing the rates at which Inflation rose for a specific range of goods and services in 2021.

Categories: Politics

Tags: Coronavirus Pandemic, Economics, Finance, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Socialist Finance, Work-Standard