I would say that there are two main global factors. The first thing is that during COVID, we couldn't buy many of the services we wanted. We couldn't go to a restaurant, we couldn't go on a holiday and we couldn't go to the gym. People tended to substitute goods for services. If you couldn't go to the gym, you bought home exercise equipment, but of course, that had to be manufactured and it had to be shipped. All of a sudden, the pressure on the whole goods sector was very high. At the same time that manufacturing operations and transportation were struggling, people were getting COVID, there were lockdowns, there were restrictions and work was not as efficient as normal. They were having trouble creating the supply, and demand was running well ahead.
The second big global factor was, of course, Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Russia is a major oil exporter and natural gas exporter. It had a very big effect on global energy prices. It particularly affected Europe. We were somewhat insulated in North America, because our natural gas prices were not nearly as affected as Europe's were. Of course, Ukraine and Russia, to some extent, are also major wheat exporters. You saw a big surge in wheat prices.
If you look at what happened, the inflation experience started with more global factors. Those happened, and then we had more domestic factors. Our economy was overheated as people basically wanted to buy more stuff than the economy could produce.