Iran War: Is Inflation Only Caused by Price Increases?

There's a difference between price spikes, which adjust with events, and true monetary inflation brought on by runaway money-printing, which is far harder to get rid of.

Jim Davis | April 17, 2026

In that respect, it’s exactly like American Thinker.

Unfortunately, DW didn’t even swing at a fastball right in the center of their strike zone on one matter: Economics, in particular the root of inflation. With the recent release of the Consumer Price Index, the Daily Wire called it “inflation,” and reported the Persian Gulf military action as “a key piece” of the indicator.

Now that April 15 is behind us, let’s cut through the sloppy language that dominates the airwaves and cable news. The CPI is exactly what its name says: a price index. It is not a direct measure of inflation. Equating it with “inflation” is lazy, establishment media shorthand that confuses more than it clarifies. 

And I thought Daily Wire was better than that.

True inflation is something more fundamental. It is the expansion of the money supply itself, driven primarily by government and central bank policy. When Washington and the Fed print too many dollars, relative to the goods and services the economy produces, each existing dollar loses purchasing power. 

That dilution is a hidden tax on savers and wage earners. It helps finance massive government deficits, without the political pain of overt tax hikes or spending cuts. And unlike supply shocks or weather events, it is highly controllable.

The CPI tracks changes in a basket of consumer prices. During periods of rapid money creation, the inflationary pressure from excess dollars will dominate the numbers — as it did when CPI readings topped 9% in the Biden years. 

But at other times, like periods of........

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