Much has been written about inflation over the past year, with most of the debate focused on the nature of the increase: Is it permanent or transitory? We can thank the Federal Reserve (Fed) for igniting this debate by commenting after their June 2021 meeting that “inflation has risen, largely reflecting transitory factors.” From that point on, the use of the “T-word” (transitory) took off like wildfire. Virtually every market pundit peppered their narrative with transitory, and even corporate America adopted the “T-word” into earnings releases and SEC filings. The Fed made the situation worse by initially sticking to the story about transitory inflation, only to backtrack and change the narrative by scheduling the removal of monetary stimulus and all but telegraphing future interest rate hikes in 2022.