“We cannot accommodate inflation,” argues Fisher. “Once it takes a grip, it changes people’s behaviour. It’s bad for investors, for workers, for savers, for people on fixed incomes.”

Yet this global inflation is already beginning to feed into the US economy. Including food and energy, Fisher warns, the Fed’s measure of consumer prices was up a ‘worrisome’ 3.7 per cent for the 12 months ending in January. And the latest figures from the European Union show that inflation there rose to a 3.5 per cent annual rate in March, the highest level since the index was created in 1997.

“You cannot think in a purely domestic context about the pricing of oil or steel or pulp or shoes or clothing,” Fisher said in a speech last month in London. For that reason, he continued, “We cannot, in my opinion, confidently assume that slower US economic growth will quell US inflation and, more important, keep inflationary expectations anchored.”

Independent truck drivers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states staged protests against high fuel prices this week. What do they have in common with rice consumers in Vietnam and soybean buyers in Indonesia and pasta aficionados in Italy? More than they probably think.