For the leaders of America Inc, high inflation is unwelcome. It is also unfamiliar. Warren Buffett, 91, the oldest boss in the s&p 500 index of big firms, most recently warned about the dangers of rising prices in his annual shareholder letter for 2011. The average chief executive of a company in the index, aged a stripling 58, had not started university in 1979 when Paul Volcker, inflation’s enemy-in-chief, became chairman of the Federal Reserve. By the time the average boss began working the rise of globalised capitalism was ushering in an era of low inflation and high profits (see chart 1). Their firms’ share prices rose between the global financial crisis of 2007-09 and the covid-19 pandemic, a decade of rock-bottom inflation.

For the leaders of America Inc, high inflation is unwelcome. It is also unfamiliar. Warren Buffett, 91, the oldest boss in the s&p 500 index of big firms, most recently warned about the dangers of rising prices in his annual shareholder letter for 2011. The average chief executive of a company in the index, aged a stripling 58, had not started university in 1979 when Paul Volcker, inflation’s enemy-in-chief, became chairman of the Federal Reserve. By the time the average boss began working the rise of globalised capitalism was ushering in an era of low inflation and high profits (see chart 1). Their firms’ share prices rose between the global financial crisis of 2007-09 and the covid-19 pandemic, a decade of rock-bottom inflation.