A commonly-heard refrain from those lamenting inflation is that the government gave workers too much money during the pandemic and that 'nobody wants to work anymore’.

Well workers weren’t the only ones who benefited from government largess. The enormous $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program — the largest and fastest of Washington bailouts — was a complete joke. It was touted as a 'loan’ program and the media ate up that obvious lie. In truth it was a 'forgivable loan’ program, which is just another way of saying 'free money’. All businesses had to do was say the money was for payroll, benefits, utilities, rent or mortgage payments.