The world is turning the page on 2021 and welcoming 2022, leading to an assessment of the last 12 months and looking ahead to the next 365 days. Over the last year, the economy was dominated by a handful of developments: inflation, a global supply chain crisis, the Delta and Omicron variants, trillions in fiscal spending, and easing of monetary policy. In November, the U.S. annual inflation rate clocked in at 6.8 percent, a 39-year high. The personal consumption expenditure price (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge, climbed 5.7 percent, the highest in nearly 40 years. Official inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that higher prices are being felt across the board, from food to energy to consumer goods. It might have been a different Christmas shopping experience than what many shoppers are accustomed to at this time of the year. Whether it …