If that were the case that too much money was printed, then one might expect broad economy wide price inflation, but instead it's really focused only in areas that have supply bottlenecks.
But too much money printing wouldn't cause the major auto manufacturers to majorly underproduce less than they typically do, and it wouldn't cause energy to go up. Of the 5.5% "excess" points of inlfation, the breakdown of cost areas is:
2.1 vehicles (of which 1.6 is used cars)
1.8 energy
0.7 food
0.6 housing
And except for food, there are clear supply bottlenecks there. For food, beef farmers have been complaining about monopsony from meat processing plants for more than a decade. There's likely a small amount of rentierism going on there. As there is for the housing crunch. (Though housing also takes a long time to respond to changes in demand patterns, such as the one induced by the pandemic)
But too much money printing wouldn't cause the major auto manufacturers to majorly underproduce less than they typically do, and it wouldn't cause energy to go up. Of the 5.5% "excess" points of inlfation, the breakdown of cost areas is:
2.1 vehicles (of which 1.6 is used cars)
1.8 energy
0.7 food
0.6 housing
And except for food, there are clear supply bottlenecks there. For food, beef farmers have been complaining about monopsony from meat processing plants for more than a decade. There's likely a small amount of rentierism going on there. As there is for the housing crunch. (Though housing also takes a long time to respond to changes in demand patterns, such as the one induced by the pandemic)