Median CPI for January 2022: Worsening Trend

Today’s headline CPI for the month of January 2022 was reported to be at 7.48%, the highest it’s been over the last decade. In fact, you would have to back to 1982 to find a similar figure. This is what the headline CPI looks like since 1980:

But in order to get a real sense of what is happening in the inflation front, we have to look under the hood. The median CPI gives us that measure. Aggregates measures are inherently imprecise, because it is trying to capture the average consumer, but in doing so it will by nature miss what is happening on a person-by-person basis. At any rate, we need something as a measurement tool. This is what the median CPI (orange line) looks like when compared with other cuts of the CPI:

The trend is obvious. It is upward. It is not letting up. 

Are supply chains the main contributor to this rise? Is the loose monetary policy the culprit? I think both. It looks like the Federal Reserve Bank will be pressured to raise interest rates quicker and perhaps in greater amounts than initially forecast.