The global economy is in a state of panic. I and lots of economists are very concerned about the possibility of an economic recession that might hurt many low- and middle-class workers. Of course, this isn’t helped by some of the highest inflation many democracies have seen since the latter half of the previous century. Altogether, there are lots of economic variables we can look into to explain why the economy is trending toward the gutter.

As important as the spending packages that handed money directly to consumers were during the early part of COVID-19, it is an unavoidable conclusion that handing this money to consumers likely raised inflation. Similarly, handing out money to small and large businesses to provide protection during the low-spending period during COVID-19 likely contributed to higher prices. There’s also the war in Ukraine, as Putin uses Europe’s reliance on natural gas and oil as a protectorate for his campaign of unjustified bloodlust. This war continues to negatively impact weapon and fossil fuel supply chains, but more generally, many of these supply chain issues continue to hamper growth across the Western and Eastern hemisphere.

President Joe Biden’s administration is also facing a Republican takeover of Congress, in-part because of the general belief that high prices mean that the economy is already suffering. While this isn’t exactly true, as Biden used both investment in American manufacturers and expansion of government clean energy sectors to contribute to one of the lowest sustained quarterly unemployment rates in the past 50 years, there is no doubt that everyone is aware of higher prices at the gas station and in the grocery store. The Republican solution to the problem is their characteristic status quo approach, wherein the worst-off see fewer benefits in the name of supposedly bringing the economy back from recession. This austerity is directly in contrast with Democratic policies.

We are now at an important crossroad that we often fail to understand as a body politic. We have reached the point in our economic-political cycle where the Republican Party complains about high prices and high deficits and places full blame on Democratic legislation for economic woes. This is extremely hypocritical, since I seem to recall a certain bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which not only left lower-income workers behind in favor of big business and the richer classes but also contributed to a higher deficit. Classical economics and trickle-down economics do not work, but Republicans seem to forget this fact when the promise of lower property and income taxes helps them at the polls. Based on polling, it seems like the fact that the economy is always a priority for voters, whether admittedly or not, will come to fruition through a strong red wave this year.

But, this leads us to an even bigger problem. The Republicans might argue that funneling money to consumers will lead to an increase in price levels as people consume at higher rates. However, there is also a strong argument that many consumers save money that the government gives them. There is a fierce debate over the effectiveness of handing money to consumers, but blaming all woes on this legislation is simply misinformation. As dangerous and misleading as the Republican Party’s critiques of Democratic spending packages are, their solutions are also quite possibly catastrophic.

A balance should be maintained between government spending and the autonomy of people and businesses. Blanket increases in taxes on all income-earners are unjustified and would infringe upon the ability of many lower earners to survive paycheck to paycheck in a high-inflation economy. But this isn’t what the Democrats are doing. Policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, in tandem with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, seek to mend industrial and infrastructural suffering and put a clean-energy twist on it all while reducing the deficit via raising domestic production in carbon-neutral or negative sectors. The Republican strategy, however, goes by a much darker name — austerity.

Typical austerity measures include raising taxes on consumers— of course, not particularly targeted at the bankers and top earners who should take on most of the brunt of government spending— and cutting government spending itself. Therefore, while many oil companies and their boards of directors are earning record profits, many people earning hundreds of times less annually will be stuck without any support. Republicans also tend to propose their strategy through some sort of choice that voters must make — either enforcing economic responsibility through deregulation and reducing government spending in vital sectors, or increasing crazy property and income taxes and government spending, which directly lead to inflation through Democratic spending bills. They seem to believe short-term boosts in the private sector through trickle-down classical economic strategies create more benefits than losses, but this is not true. If our goal ultimately is for economic growth to include progress for all citizens, then hampering vital government welfare funding to support business interests is catastrophic in the long term.

At the ballot box, you don’t face a choice between economic responsibility and uncontrolled spending. In fact, the type of spending that Democrats have been doing recently has actually contributed to reductions in the deficit and more employment. The real choice is between a solution to inflation that only considers the short-term effects of austerity measures, reduces high price levels through government cuts and funnels money to businesses, or a more egalitarian economic model that levies the highest taxes on the ones who are making record profits through our suffering. If we choose to go for an austerity model that covers investors and bankers on Wall Street instead of the middle- and lower-income workers who make our country run on a daily basis, we might indeed lower the national inflation rate. But the opportunity costs of not raising taxes on those who could actually afford them will lead to an increasingly unsustainable and unfair solution. The few should pay for inflation, not the many.

Sean Reichbach is a sophomore double-majoring in philosophy politics and law and economics.