Inflation Fears Abound as Gas and Lumber Shortages Bite. Should the Fed Worry? Federal Reserve officials believe low and stable price expectations give them room to heal the job market. But what if outlooks change? Travelers at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Prices are rising on everything from airline tickets to used cars as the economy reopens.Credit...Joe Buglewicz for The New York Times May 17, 2021Updated 4:34 p.m. ET Turn on the news, scroll through Facebook, or listen to a White House briefing these days and there’s a good chance you’ll catch the Federal Reserve’s least-favorite word: Inflation. If that bubbling popular concern about prices gets too ingrained in America’s psyche, it could spell trouble for the nation’s central bank.