The truth about inflation is getting covered up by countless myths spewed by corporations and their political lackeys.
Here are the facts:
Fact #1: Inflation is not being driven by wage increases.
Although wages have been rising, they've been rising more SLOWLY than prices. Hourly wages grew by 5 percent in the past year but prices rose 8.6 percent. This means, when you adjust for inflation, workers actually got a 3.5 percent pay cut over the past year.
Most families who haven't had a real wage increase in years used the assistance to pay down debt or save for the future. The assistance was barely enough to keep working families afloat.
Fact #4: Inflation is not the result of President Biden's or Democrats policies
Republicans want to blame them for rising prices. But Democrats have tried advancing bills to bring down prices and address corporate price gouging, yet Republicans and a handful of corporate Democrats refuse to pass them.
So don't fall for the corporate myths about inflation.
Higher prices are not being driven by wage increases. They were not driven by federal assistance to people during the pandemic. And Democrats aren't to blame.
Inflation is being driven in large part by record corporate profits. The best way to fight it is to remove corporate incentives to raise prices through a windfall profits tax. And reduce monopoly power through tougher antitrust enforcement.
Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has a new film, "Inequality for All," to be released September 27. He blogs at www.robertreich.org.