How to Fight Inflation: The views of four distinguished experts.

With U.S. inflation still far higher than expected, various firefighting teams of experts have stepped forward, offering to come to the rescue. Here's a scorecard of some of the players:

* U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is leader of the "Full Speed Ahead Rescue Squad." Enact President Biden's latest fiscal stimulus package, she suggests, and force the Federal Reserve chair to agree there'll be no more central bank increases in short-term interest rates.

* Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers argues in favor of the "Let the Fed Do Its Job But Raise Taxes to Dampen Demand Rescue Squad." The subsequent rise in unemployment, he argues, will break the back of inflation as it did in the early 1980s. Summers has the credibility of being one of the few economists to predict the current outbreak of inflation.

* Then there's the "Don't Do Anything Rescue Squad." Adherents argue the Milton Friedman monetarist line that "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." If you follow the money supply measure M2 (currency in circulation plus bank and money market fund liquid balances), they argue, the inflation problem will take care of itself. After rising sharply, M2 is coming down. Within a year, inflation will have dropped sharply.

* There's also the "Produce More Oil and Gas to Bring Down Energy Costs Rescue Squad."

* Finally, there's the "Let the Dollar Soar Rescue Squad." Proponents believe the Fed's rising short-term interest rates will continue to produce a strengthening U.S. dollar, putting the global economy in a quandary. The rest of the world will face ever-higher import and other prices (particularly food prices with coming global shortages). Dollar-denominated debt defaults will jump. A dollar shortage could occur, putting pressure on global financial conditions. Meanwhile, the strong dollar will help bring down import costs paid for by American consumers. Even better, the U.S. stock market and other assets will look attractive to foreign investors as long as the U.S. Treasury publicly supports a strong dollar. (It will.) So do nothing, they say. Let the Fed do its job. The United States is in the best position to ride out the storm.

Which team offers the most compelling prescription for handling inflation? Or have we missed an important option looming on the horizon? Is the "Let the Dollar Soar Rescue Squad" the most likely given that action from the U.S. Congress or a change in Federal Reserve policy is not required? Is the International Monetary Fund view correct that the world is about to experience a heightened period of chaos, violence, and political volatility? Is this chaos in part the result of...