AT LONG LAST IT’S COME, the day of reckoning for the U.S. economy. That’s what some experts are saying as they study the data that have been published since Katrina struck the oil, gas, and shipping industries. True, those data contain more good news than bad. It is now clear that the economy was growing at a relatively rapid clip before the storm, with activity high and the jobs market strengthening, and that Katrina did not derail the economy.

But the inflation hawks have been circling for some time, and the good news has given them reason to pounce. The Federal Reserve’s latest survey of business conditions notes that “business activity continued to expand in September, . . . retail sales of general merchandise increased in most districts, . . . employment has been rising, . . . service activity expanded in almost all the [Federal Reserve] Districts that reported on this sector, . . . manufacturing activity rose in all Federal Reserve Districts except St. Louis . . . all the Districts reporting on commercial real estate conditions noted rising demand for office, retail, or industrial space.”