Originally published May 17, 2019
Midway through a recent renovation, my new door knobs and new washing machine went up in price. I soon noticed prices for taxis, avocados and many other everyday items jumped too. And yet, the White House and the Fed continue to tell us that inflation is largely nonexistent and life isn't that much more expensive. They're wrong - it is. But in somewhat of an ironic twist, the Trump administration's latest round of tariffs could blow their inflation cover and push the Fed's preferred measure of underlying inflation meaningfully higher.