As Democratic leaders fiddle, inflation keeps burning more and more destructively. By now, they almost seem to be relishing the conflagration.

Four days after the Labor Department reported the highest retail price hikes in 39 years, at 6.8% annually, the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Dec. 14 said wholesale prices for the last year rose even faster, by 9.6%. In a sane political world, statistics this devastating to average-income people would make political leaders and central bankers act aggressively to douse the flames. Instead, President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell are all pouring turpentine into the fire.