February 25, 2011 Reading Time: < 1 minute

“Unfortunately for defenders of Fed policy, today’s paper is filled with stories of rising inflation. In Singapore, consumer price inflation is running at 5.5%. In Vietnam, consumer price inflation is running at over 12%. There are food riots in India. In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, George Melloan detailed the linkage between economics and turmoil in the Middle East. Consumer price inflation in Egypt rose to 18% annually in 2009 from 5% in 2006. In Iran, inflation rose from 13% in 2006 to 25% in 2009. As Melloan wryly observes, “about the only one failing to acknowledge a problem seems to be the man most responsible, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.”

Monetary policy is not the sole culprit in food price inflation. There have been supply shocks. Central bankers always point to supply shocks to explain rising prices. But it is not just food prices rising, but most commodity prices. Plus, as noted, broad measures of consumer prices around the world are signaling rising inflation.” Read more

“Let Them Eat Chips”
Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr.
Wall Street Pit, February 24, 2011. 

Image by posterize / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Tom Duncan

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