As a never-Trumper and a small-l libertarian, I’ll probably hold my nose and vote for Joe Biden in the fall. But boy, he and his party keep acting like they really don’t care about socially liberal, pro-capitalism voters like me. Witness the latest “shrinkflation” fiasco. If they want to demonstrate a complete lack of economic understanding, this is how to do it.

“Shrinkflation” is what happens when a business charges the same price for a smaller quantity of goods than it used to. That means its customers, should they choose to buy its products, are getting less for their dollars then before.

But if this is simply the result of horrible, greedy, evil profit-seeking corporations, why aren’t we paying 10 bucks for a 1-oz bag of potato chips? Why don’t candy bars consist of a few particles of chocolate and cost a day’s wages? Why, for that matter, do products tend to get better and cheaper over time, provided you look over decades instead of months?

Are business less greedy in times of economic prosperity? Is the profit-seeking impulse something that just comes and goes? Or is there something else going on?

Shrinkflation is a symptom of the disease of inflation. Going after it through legislation is like painting over the spots on a measles patient.

Business that sell packagable products in quantity face two choices in an inflationary environment. They can either keep the quantity the same and raise their prices, or they can keep their prices the same and reduce the quantity. Nowadays, businesses appear to be choosing the latter as something they believe buyers prefer. I suspect they’re right.

As some economists have pointed out, shrinkflation is something Biden and the Democrats should be grateful for. Keeping the quantity the same and raising prices instead would mean a higher CPI and therefore a higher reported inflation rate, a serious political liability in an election year.

There also seems to be some serious hubris behind attempts to ban shrinkflation. What other business decisions do Elizabeth Warren and her crowd think they can make better? Where is the foundation for the belief that people have a right to have the price-per-ounce of certain products never go up? And what about the source of inflation in the first place? Isn’t that really the problem?

There is nothing mysterious about inflation. It is simply what happens when too much money chases too few goods. Since it is government that is in charge of controlling our money supply, and since Congress spends far more of it than it takes in, it is not hard to see where the real problem lies.

By running the printing presses on overtime during COVID, as well as handing out goodies to favored interests and keeping spending programs on autopilot, Republicans then and Democrats now brought inflation back with a vengeance.

All we can do now is wait for the economy to grow out of it, for which we must rely on those greedy capitalist corporations, business owners and entrepreneurs to generate profit and create wealth. There is no other way.

Perhaps the chattering classes and the politicians they endorse don’t really expect anything to be done about shrinkflation. Perhaps they just want to show voters they care and are trying to do something about it.

Perhaps that’s all they think they need to do to earn our vote. After all, with only two major parties to choose from, all they have to do is be less bad than their opponent.

Or perhaps they scream and yell about it because they genuinely don’t know where it comes from. That would require a good long look in the mirror.

Barry Fagin is the author of “The Radical Center” and senior fellow in technology policy at the Independence Institute in Denver. His views are his alone. Readers can contact Fagin at barry@faginfamily.net.