SOS. Stuck on stupid.

The administration is casting around for outside-the box fixes to show they’re fighting for hard-pressed households, from a windfall tax on oil profits to commitments by retailers to cut prices if China tariffs are removed.

The out-of-the-box fixes all involve trying to get businesses to cut prices as if the problem is happening at that level.

Can Biden and his people really be this ignorant of basic economics? The answer appears to be yes. The stuff they’re putting out there is what they believe, which makes them even more dangerous. Instead of cutting spending, they’re convinced that rising prices are some sort of corporate conspiracy.

A key Biden ally in the Senate this week proposed a new federal tax on oil-industry profits. The White House has been asking big retailers to commit to cutting their prices if the president lowers some China tariffs, and pushing them for details on how quickly that might happen, according to people familiar with the matter. “This is typical outreach to understand how a potential policy decision could affect stakeholders,’’ a White House official said.

There’s nothing typical about it. Just the typical stupidity of socialists who don’t understand how anything works. It’s an interconnected economy. Telling Amazon and Walmart to cut prices in exchange for more Made in China junk doesn’t work. Not when it has to be delivered on trucks burning fuel and packed and delivered by workers whose hourlies keep going up. And not when businesses are no longer able to price long term costs.

The effort has been unsuccessful so far, with businesses citing a lack of understanding of what’s driving inflation, the people said. 

That’s a polite way of saying the obvious.