TL;DR: economists are still stuck in the idea of the market as a perfect force for reaching optimal outcomes. They’re ignoring the simple fact that businesses are putting prices up purely to increase profits. And that they can do this because the economic ideal of perfect competition (where many small firms compete with near-identical products) does not exist. We have a small number of very powerful businesses—oligopolies—in nearly every market for consumer-facing goods.
Nice work. It does trouble me that there’s such an orthodoxy in economics going through so much of government.
The theory so often fails, so why not use different theory? It’s frustrating when it’s people’s livelihoods at stake.
Because they’re trying to distract you while their friends rifle through your pockets.