I’ve learned much from Doug Henwood, including that the anti-inflation Federal Reserve has been at the forefront of elite class struggle. So I was surprised to see, in the latest Jacobin issue, that Henwood blames inflation on easy money and budget deficits, endorsing hawkish solutions (and even celebrating former Fed official Thomas Hoenig — a self-identified “Austrian” economist and Koch timeserver).

The mainstream press and the Fed have emphasized sector-specific supply inflation and corporate profits. Henwood dismisses both as “sophisticated evasion” or worse. The mechanics of these processes require clarification, but they are more relevant than the “printing presses” (low rates pre-COVID caused no inflation; fiscal policy has now been contractionary for months).

First implicitly, then clearly, the piece endorses interest rate hikes, which will either fail to stop inflation or stop it through unemployment. Henwood senses that “creating unemployment isn’t something socialists can applaud.” But instead of solving the riddle, he lists mitigating factors: workers dislike inflation; some rich people will suffer.