Well into our second year since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the world capitalist economy is now also suffering from a new malaise, a global economic pandemic involving some symptoms which seem entirely new and others which have not been seen for many years. These symptoms can only be understood in terms of capitalism, and of the actions taken by the capitalist states and central banks to shore the system up. It involves price inflation. This is not caused by workers demanding higher pay, but by the use of monetary policy to protect big business and the ultra-rich.