Peter Morici is an economist and emeritus business professor at the University of Maryland

Inflation is expected to continue ripping along in the US. At its policy-making meeting later this month, the Federal Reserve should move to tighten monetary policy much more quickly than it indicated at its December meeting. Headline inflation is running at 6.8% — the fastest pace in four decades. Since early November, petrol prices have eased modestly but that’s after rising about 85% from their pandemic low. And gasoline, heating fuels and other energy only account for about 7.5% of the consumer price index.