Milton Friedman: Inflation Is Made in Washington, Not by Unions, Consumers or Oil Imports

Asked about Treasury Secretary Blumenthal blaming rising inflation largely on foreign trade and unions, Milton Friedman said high government officials are often driven to equivocate in public statements.
Friedman said inflation does not come from trade unions. They may be grasping, but they "do not own a printing press." He said inflation is made in Washington because only Washington can create money, and that consumers, producers, unions, foreign sheiks and oil imports do not produce it.
According to Friedman, too much government spending and too much government creation of money produce inflation, "and nothing else."
He added that voters share the blame, since Congress has found it politically profitable to raise spending without raising taxes and to finance the difference through the hidden tax of inflation. "We have met the enemy and they is us," he said.