The conflict is the same as it has always been, between labor and capital. "Essential" workers looked around at each other and discovered that they were the low totem on the pole and said "screw this. " They demanded a small portion of the share of their productivity that they had allowed capital to take from them for decades.

Capital said, "Hell no, we are the masters of the universe and we'll simply get our bloated share by raising prices even beyond the increases from labor and resources. And no, we are happy with the status quo pre-Covid, so don't expect any investment in supply chain infrastructure from us either."

The Fed, always working at the bidding of capital, said "Hold my beer while I provide an alternate profit source via Treasury and I'll spank labor in the process by making borrowing more expensive. We can take our profits directly from the government and blame it all on the working stiff while an army of "experts" is waiting in the wings to feed them monetarist BS. They need to earn their thirty pieces of silver."