The 43-day government shutdown may feel like ancient history, but it's still fouling up key economic data. The government's official reports on inflation have been both delayed and distorted by the shutdown that spanned October and part of November. That's complicating the job of Federal Reserve officials who meet next week to set the nation's monetary policy. Thursday's report on Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation, which normally covers December, instead covered only October and November, as the B ...