Friedman Was Right, Just Mostly Misquoted...

A commentary challenges how “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” is used in mainstream inflation debates, arguing the quote is frequently cited without its key clause. The piece says Per Bylund highlighted that CPI and GDP can become targets under Goodhart’s Law, but argues the inflation argument is mainly distorted by selective quotation of Milton Friedman. It restores the full line: inflation is a monetary phenomenon only in the sense that it can be produced by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output. The author links this to the equation of exchange (MV = PQ), portraying it as an identity and focusing on which variable drives sustained price changes. The piece distinguishes relative price shifts from sustained inflation, citing supply shocks like war-driven oil price spikes as causing volatility unless monetary policy accommodates money growth. The article cuts off mid-discussion.