Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out any pay raises many people have received. The Labor Department’s consumer price index jumped 8.5 percent in March from 12 months earlier, the sharpest year over year increase since 1981. Retired Ripon College economist Paul Schoofs says prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine. Gasoline prices drove up much of the increase, but Schoofs notes gas prices have dropped over the last few weeks. Amid the soaring inflation, retail sales still rose modestly in March.
