Margins, Wages, Input Costs, and Inflation

Thinking through the PPI-CPI-PCE disconnect, plus some details on health care inflation

Prices paid by U.S. businesses for materials, supplies, components, and services are soaring.

Excluding energy, the prices of manufactured goods sold to other businesses as inputs are up 21% since last year. That’s the fastest pace since 1975. The price of cold rolled steel has more than tripled since the end of 2020 after being essentially flat since 20…