Alva Review-Courier -

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stagflation. It was the dreaded "S word" of the 1970s.

For Americans of a certain age, it conjures memories of painfully long lines at gas stations, shuttered factories and President Gerald Ford's much-ridiculed "Whip Inflation Now" buttons.

Stagflation is the bitterest of economic pills: High inflation mixes with a weak job market to cause a toxic brew that punishes consumers and befuddles economists.

For decades, most economists didn't think such a nasty concoction was even possible. They'd long assumed that inflation would run high only when the economy was strong and unem...