Blame the government for inflation | LETTER | Letters

I'm sick of listening to politicians say inflation is caused by price gouging. The opposite is a much more likely scenario. The last thing a retailer wants to do is raise prices and drive away customers. Instead, retailers will cut costs in a variety of ways and only raise prices as a last resort.

Kamala Harris said she would crack down on greedy price gougers, including grocery stores. Apparently she either doesn't know that grocery stores operate on the thinnest margins of any retailer, or she thinks voters are too stupid to understand basic economics. When the cost of raw products, transportation, labor, insurance, occupancy, and taxes rise, retailers have no choice but to raise prices. But ask yourself: What's causing all these other costs to rise?

Here are three main reasons: government over-regulation is driving up costs, government energy policies have led to higher transportation costs, and government spending, which should have been reduced in difficult times, has only increased. What is the common element? The government.