• Ashley told The New York Times his grocery bill is climbing; new inflation data confirms Americans continue to confront higher prices on just about everything.
  
• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) - a data point that reads a mixed basket of goods as an inflation gauge - showed the highest year-over-year inflation in 40 years.
  
• Why It Matters: Higher inflation potentially can negatively impact the economy by slowing down consumer spending.
  
• Added Context: When we talk about higher prices, what do we mean? Here's an excerpt from the Associated Press - it's enough to make your head spin, but provides some good perspective:
  
  Apartment rental costs rose 0.5% in January, the fastest pace in 20 years. Electricity prices surged 4.2% in January alone, the sharpest rise in 15 years, and are up 10.7% from a year earlier. Last month, household furniture and supplies rose 1.6%, the largest one-month increase on records dating to 1967.
  
  Food costs, driven by pricier eggs, cereal and dairy products, increased 0.9% in January. New car prices, which have jumped during the pandemic because of a shortage of computer chips, were unchanged last month but are up 12.2% from a year ago. The surge in new-car prices has, in turn, accelerated used-car prices; they rose 1.5% in January and are up a dizzying 41% from a year ago.

Rapid Inflation Stokes Unease From Wall Street to Washington