The majority contributor to inflation we’ve seen recently is a profit margin increases by corporations in poorly competitive markets. Decades of weak anti trust enforcement coming to roost
We had that forever. The only real trigger is the pandemic stimulus, both the PPP “loans” and the stimulus handed out to normal people. That lit the fuse.
You can literally hear the discussion at public company quarterly calls. Companies are praising the success of raising prices to inflate profit margins.
Every business will price their services to the maximum profit point that the market will bear. This is always the case in a capitalistic society.
What changed with the "free" money handouts is that the price point that market can bear increased resulting in higher profit margins than before. Supply limitations and shortages played a part as well as increased cash and hence demand from people.
As this excess savings and money dries out, the equilibrium price point will move the profit margins back to long term averages although it is a slow process.
