Here's what the ring leader of Tom Nichols' vaunted expert class of economists had to say at the time:
Some, however, have invoked fears of inflation as a reason to not undertake these investments. This view is short-sighted. ... We need safe school buildings and bridges, and affordable child and elder care, whether inflation is 2% or 5%. With the investments being financed by tax increases, the inflationary impacts will be at most negligible ...
The Build Back Better package ... would transform the U.S. economy to be more efficient, equitable, sustainable, and prosperous for the long run, without presenting an inflationary threat.
From Joe Stiglitz' letter last September, here. Robert Shiller of all people signed on to this load of hooey. Carl Schramm unloaded on all this yesterday, here.
Stiglitz wrote that with a straight face when inflation had already soared to 5.3% in July. The orgy of coronavirus spending in 2020-2021 was already stoking the inflation engine, but the experts then simply ignored it, and called for more! more! more!
Now look where we are, even without more.
Government spending in the United States hasn't been financed by tax increases in decades. We wouldn't be $30 trillion in the hole if it were. It's financed by borrowing, and the interest payments on that borrowing progressively accumulate to crowd-out other spending. One day soon interest payments on the debt will become the biggest part of the budget, severely limiting our ability to allocate resources responsibly.
