What’s to blame for inflation?

High prices are taking a toll on everyone right now and experts predict it will be worse before it gets better.

Yesterday’s price is not today’s price and tomorrow’s prices will more than likely rise.

“They’re all going up. We notice it,” said John Shea, of Fort Myers.

Debbie Kibiloski said it costs a fortune to fill her car up with gas.

Why is money flying out of our wallets for the same things we’ve been buying?

FGCU Professor of finance Tom Smythe said the easiest thing to point the finger to is the pandemic but the real answer isn’t all that simple.

The stimulus checks and the PPP loans have also contributed to make everything more expensive.

“The federal government said, look, we don’t want a repeat of the Depression,” Smythe said. “That kept money flowing into the economy. At the same time, goods, producers were shut down. So, we’ve got all this money sort of floating around, chasing fewer and fewer goods.”

Then bring on the supply chain issues. And the minimum wage climbing.

“We’re continuing to pump money into the system,” Smythe said. “The supply chain is still exceptionally fragile. Wages are rising. People are starting to spend money here in the US because now we’re going out. It’s just a perfect storm.”

Smythe said in order for things to get better, the world’s health has to get better first.

“We really need to focus our energies on helping other countries vaccinate their populations, and get the virus under control,” Smythe said.

And he said the Federal Reserve needs to step in.

Inflation is the unintended consequence of the government giving us money.

“The question that we have to ask ourselves is, if we hadn’t done what they did, what would the outcome be? I would venture to say that we would have been much worse than the depression of the 30s. I have no doubt my mind,” Smythe said.

There are ways to keep a little bit of money in your pocket.

Use cashback rebate apps like I-Botta, Rakuten and GetUpside for shopping groceries and gas.

Also, check your credit cards for cashback rewards.