‘Really out of control.’ America digs in for inflation fight.

Two days ago, Rebecca Dodson canceled her subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Weight Watchers. It’s the kind of belt-tightening that many Americans are beginning to contemplate in the wake of high inflation unseen for 40 years.

“The gas prices are really out of control,” says the Portland, Oregon, retiree and online tai chi instructor. “I’m still in sticker shock when I fill my gas tank.”

For Nancy Bisbee, the problem is housing. Crammed in a 700-square-foot one-bedroom apartment in the New York borough of Manhattan, she, her husband, and two young boys were eager to move to cheaper and larger quarters. In late 2020, they started looking in Connecticut, then New Jersey, and finally upstate New York. But offering $20,000 above asking price was getting the family nowhere, she says, because homes were getting snapped up at $50,000 above asking price.

So the homebuying plans are on hold, Ms. Bisbee says. “About three or four months ago, we