Inflation is back. What do we do about it? For starters: Don't ignore it.
The latest consumer price index (CPI) — the government's best-known inflation indicator — reported a 2.9 percent increase from July 2017. The last time the year-over-year gain was higher was in December 2011. Though hardly a cause for panic, it suggests intensifying price and wage pressures in an economy straining at its productive capacity. The Trump administration and its critics should be watching closely.
Consider. Rents rose 3.6 percent from a year earlier; hospital prices increased 4.6 percent, gasoline 25 percent and eating out 2.8 percent. Still, some price increases were small or nonexistent, offsetting some gains. New vehicle prices edged up a mere 0.2 percent, electricity was down 0.8 percent and airline fares dropped 4.1 percent.