Russia’s invasion of Ukraine makes the February inflation report feel like old news. Still, the numbers were something to behold.
The Labor Department on Thursday said that overall consumer prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% last month from January, putting them 7.9% above their year-earlier level. That was the biggest increase since January 1982. Core prices, which exclude food and energy items in an attempt to better capture inflation’s trend, were up 6.5% versus a year earlier, for the biggest gain since August 1982.
Since Russia went to war in Ukraine, it seems likely that the next inflation readings will only be higher still. Regular gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon last month, according to the Energy Information Administration. On Monday, it was fetching $4.10.
To be sure, spending on…
