A man walks past the US Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2022. (Photo: Xinhua)

In a recent statement, the International Monetary Fund urged the United States to focus on slowing the growth of wages and prices to avoid stagflation.

It is clear that the over-issued amount of the US currency was not directly reflected in commodity prices initially, but first reflected in asset prices.

Although the US also excessively printed bank notes to bail out the economy after the 2008 financial crisis, the global supply chains were still functioning well at that time and the supply of commodities and energy were not disturbed by so many US-related factors as today so that the inflation pressure was well controlled. There was also efficient macro policy coordination by the major economies.

Commodity inflation is subject to certain conditions, that is there is a problem with the supply and demand relationship of commodities at present.

For a long time in the past, because of the acceleration of globalization and the status of the US currency, the needs of US consumers could be met by purchasing from all over the world, while globalization meant the production of goods in the world market was still efficient, which has kept prices stable in the US for many years.

After all the favorable factors disappeared thanks to the US' shift in focus from promoting economic globalization to dividing the world economy into two camps, the foundation for the US to employ its old approach of quantitative easing to bail out the economy, which in essence was to take advantage of the US' dollar hegemony to force the rest of the world to pay for the US' recovery, has become shaky.

The Fed is doing its part to check the inflation. But it has also conveyed a clear message that the causes of the inflation are out of its control. So when the Joe Biden administration compared the exorbitant gas price in the US to a necessary cost for a "liberal world order", it is actually covering up the fact that the inflation is just a blister exposing the harm the US has been doing to the world economic system because of the politicians' shortsightedness and strategic anxiety.