Back to the Future!

The chart below depicts inflation based on the the personal consumption expenditures index. Inflation seemed to be under control in March and April but has ticked up in May through July. So much conflicting data recently: lower housing starts, low employment growth, possible higher inflation. Is stagflation in our future? Calling the ghost of Arthur Burns to find out.

Getting our Ford Pinto out of mothballs . . . we will be studying the 1970s for a sense of the potential impacts of stagflation on consumer spending.