So I need a history lesson since it was way before my time, what caused the double digit inflation rates during the Carter administration? What parallele with today's situation indicate that we are heading in the same direction?

https://i.ibb.co/87rvWPf/EC5-AA07-D-...79-BAA95-D.jpg

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/29/1001023637/think-inflation-is-bad-now-lets-take-a-step-back-to-the-1970s

If you don’t have the time for the four minute listen, it came down to high government spending and high energy prices, with a psychological component. The psychological component goes something like this:

Inflation is already high (Social Security recipients are going to get a 5.9% cost of living increase this year) so when my contract comes up for renewal next year, I’m going to insist that it goes up AT LEAST 5.9% which I’m going to need just to break even, and then probably 5% per year for each of the next four years of the contract. And of course the guy/gal I work for knows they are going to have to pay those higher costs AND higher energy costs so they raise their prices (or keep the unit prices the same while putting fewer coco-puffs in the box) which gets us into a vicious feedback loop that doesn’t stop until the fed raises interest rates so high they cause a recession.

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon—too much money chasing too few goods. It’s a nasty regressive tax caused by printing money. If that doesn’t describe our economy, I don’t know what is. Watch out for double-digit inflation and interest rates. WTI will be at $125 by spring, if not before., might peak above $150. $5 gasoline everywhere, $6.50 in California. You heard it here first.