This is not going to be news to CTH readers and intellectually honest analysts. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics has released the March consumer pricing data [DATA HERE] showing the recent surge in energy, gasoline and food costs that we have all felt.
The monthly increase of 1.3% brings the annual rate of inflation to 8.5 percent year-over-year. However, the details tell the exact story we have been outlining for well over six months. This is the second wave of inflation being recorded. Grocery store prices (food at home), energy prices, and gasoline prices are all driving the inflation rate. [BLS Table 1]

Again, I modified Table-1 to take out the noise. The data shows what we have felt for the past two months. Working class families are feeling the pinch as their wages cannot keep pace with the increase in prices on products that are a priority. Food, housing, gasoline, energy.
If we were using the old CPI method for analysis, current inflation would be well above 20%.
That said, there are issues also inherent and visible in the data for the non-food and energy segments, what I would call the durable goods side. First, we are seeing the beginning of the durable good contraction getting quantified as we have previously discussed. The prices for used vehicles, electronics, appliances and other non-critical durable goods are now flatlining, or even dropping in price.
Every indication within the economy indicates this is being caused by a demand contraction. People are not purchasing durable goods because their disposable income is gone. This lack of demand also shows up in wage rate suppression. Despite high employment, wages are not rising – in part because there is excess productivity in the durable good economy.
Just in time for the Pennsylvania primary election (May 17th), Philadelphia returns to a mandatory mask mandate. According to 

