Consumer price index climbs to 40-year-high

If you've put gas in your car or bought food lately you already know inflation is high. In fact, according to the Federal Labor Department, it's the highest it's been in 40 years.  

"If we look inside inflation numbers we see that the prices that are going up are related to energy and food," said Associate Professor of Economics at MSU Denver Nicolas Cachanosky. 

It's not all bad news however, gas prices have gone down by an average of 40 cents per gallon nationwide.  

Even though prices at the pump have dropped, Cachanosky says the conflict in Ukraine is keeping prices for energy and subsequently everything else high.  

"So as long as we have this conflict between Russia and Ukraine and problems around the world we may have to expect energy prices to remain high," he said. 

He says while it's easy to blame United States politicians for expensive energy, don't expect politics to bring prices down. 

"There's only so much policy makers can do about it," he said. 

Instead, Cachanosky says the Federal Reserve has the most power to fight inflation. They've already raised interest rates, and he says he wouldn't be surprised if they do it again.  

Still, he warns even that won't give Coloradans quick relief. 

"If we look at different measures of inflation, some of them are looking bad, some of them are looking good. We may expect it to go down in the next few months," he said.