It seems I spend a lot of time each week talking with people, and these days it’s hard to tell if the people I’m talking with are more concerned about the lack of availability of products they’re looking for in places like supermarkets or the rising costs of products that are available.  Items that populate many grocery lists ranging from foods to household products are absent from many store shelves and it’s likely you’ve noticed that  prices for products that are available  have risen considerably in recent weeks.  Retailers blame production supply and distribution issues they say have worsened because of the pandemic  and they aren’t speculating when product availability will improve or when prices might come back down. It’s a pretty safe bet that won’t happen any time soon. Meanwhile, there is plenty of gasoline to go around if you’re willing to pay a lot more for it than you did a year ago. The hit your family budget is taking from rising fuel costs won’t be reflected when the federal government releases it’s  report on the impact inflation is having on us either. That’s the way I see it.