> They should lift incomes, not suppress prices

Redistribution is a left-wing policy. A lot of elected governments went right-wing recently. It's as simple as that.

The issue is not "governments". This is what the voting public wants.

Unfortunately, when the populace suffers economically, it tends to become dumber. In turn, populist and demagogues rise, and these tend only to worsen matters.

See, for example, what happened after Weimar Germany's inflation.