Opinion | 'Affordability' Isn't an Impossibility
- Inflation has torpedoed incumbents for three straight election cycles — voters have the memory of goldfish but the resentment of elephants.
- Hoover Institution's John Cochrane insists the cure is 'supply-side attitude,' which in political terms means doing the opposite of whatever we've been doing.
- The piece argues presidents need a 'committed' posture, not just a magic wand — tragically, commitment is the one thing D.C. runs on.
- Rising prices aren't a natural disaster; they're a policy choice — and we keep choosing the same bad sequel.
- No new taxes, no price caps — just old-fashioned production, the kind that's harder to tweet into existence.
Brief Summary
The Wall Street Journal's opinion pages have slapped a fresh coat of 'it's not that hard' on the nation's stubborn inflation problem, channeling economist John Cochrane's grumpiest takes. The thesis: price spikes are a supply issue, not a demand mystery, and the cure is a president who treats economic growth like a mission, not a talking point. Easier said than done, especially when the political class prefers scoring points to building refineries.
Why This Matters
This matters because your grocery bill isn't a weather event — it's a direct consequence of policy choices made in Washington. If Cochrane is right, the next president who actually prioritizes supply-side fixes could chew through inflation without the Federal Reserve's blunt hammer of rate hikes, which means less pain in your wallet and more stability at the checkout line.