Did corporate greed fuel inflation? It’s not biggest culprit

By PAUL WISEMAN
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Furious about surging prices at the gasoline station and the supermarket, many consumers feel they know just where to cast blame: On greedy companies that relentlessly jack up prices and pocket the profits. Yet most economists say corporate price gouging is, at most, one of many causes of runaway inflation — and not the primary one. Others include: Supply disruptions at factories, ports and freight yards. Worker shortages. President Joe Biden’s enormous pandemic aid program. COVID 19-caused shutdowns in China. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And, not least, a Federal Reserve that kept interest rates ultra-low longer than experts say it should have. Most of all, though, economists say resurgent spending drove inflation up.