Inflation is an international phenomenon.
Values of around 8 percent in the United States and in the euro zone therefore lead to the idea that inflation is independent of political decisions in individual countries and currency areas.
Political Washington finds this idea particularly attractive because it absolves both the fiscal policy of President Joe Biden and the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve from any responsibility for inflation.
No wonder the White House is trying to sell inflation as the fateful consequence of Putin's war of aggression, the pandemic and profit-hungry corporations.
This notion is wrong.
A closer look at inflation rates in the United States and the eurozone reveals serious differences.
The core inflation rate, which eliminates volatile energy and food prices, is much higher in the United States at 6.2 percent than in the eurozone at 3.8 percent.
This is a significant difference that calls for justification.
War and the pandemic have hit the economic areas equally, with the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank both resolutely easing monetary policy.
But the American government has pumped significantly more money into the economy than European governments.
After $3 trillion had already been spent under President Donald Trump to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic, Biden added a $1.9 trillion package in March 2021 - at a time when inflationary developments in the United States had long been looming .
The size of the transfers and subsidies was estimated to be three times larger than the US economy's output gap caused by the pandemic.
Mistakes in dealing with inflation
Biden, presumably with good intentions and cheerful ignorance, allowed the economy to overheat while the Federal Reserve had just put a new monetary policy into effect: It stipulated that the Fed would no longer fight inflation preventively, but only if inflation had exceeded the target of 2 percent exceeded.
In addition, the central bankers simply did not take the risk seriously.
Janet Yellen is one who should have known as a former Fed Chair and current Treasury Secretary.
Now she has publicly admitted that she underestimated the path of inflation.
Honesty is honorable, at the same time it is cheap.
Of course, this serious misjudgment has no consequences.
In the current political climate in America, as a rule, personalities are only sent home for saying something ambiguous about minorities, not for contributing to the impoverishment of minorities.
The conclusion, promoted by Biden's defenders, that America's policies were inconsequential because inflation is global, deliberately ignores the interconnectedness of the global economy.
The United States has been running a huge trade deficit in goods for many years.
With the extremely expansionary fiscal policy, Biden has exacerbated the tightness on the world markets and exported inflation to countries that are already badly hit.
So Biden's policy is partly responsible for global inflation.
The President has now assured the American public that fighting inflation is now the top priority and that he will not interfere in the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation.
He also called on Congress to finally grant tax breaks for the expansion of renewable energy in order to reduce heating and electricity costs for families.
The impact of such measures on inflation are doubtful.
In addition, the claim is false, because Biden's policy of high tariffs and quotas is currently making solar modules and wind turbines more expensive.
And that's just one example.
No one thinks trade barriers caused inflation.
But there can be little doubt that they make a bad situation worse.
An open America would eliminate Trump's tariffs, eliminate "Buy America" clauses and remove Trump's restrictions on immigration.
With 11 million job vacancies, that would be support for employers who are currently leaving work unfinished and thus wasting wealth.
Alternatively, they pay significantly higher wages.
That only sounds good until inflation eats up the gains.
That's exactly what happens.