Consumer prices have increased at a rapid pace over the last year. Some have argued that this inflation discredits left-wing policy ideas. But this is not true.

One common explanation for this recent spell of inflation is that consumer demand has surged beyond the capacity of producers to supply the demanded goods and services. From there, some then place the blame for the excessive demand on the three pandemic stimulus bills, especially the last one passed in March of 2021. Insofar as these stimulus bills were supported by the Left, their contribution to inflation is supposedly an indictment of leftist economic policy more generally.

This reasoning is mistaken in two separate ways.