Black Gold

Today Mr. Ben Bernanke must be patting himself on the back for halting rate increases. Inflation data surely supports his stance. Mr. Bernanke is ahead of the curve and I guess from now onwards he will be getting the respect he deserves from the market.

However, my focus today is not on the Fed Chairman but on inflation itself. One thing that I've never been able to get is, does the rise in fuel and food costs not affect the common man on the street? If the answer is No, then why have the so-called "core consumer-price index" - which exactly excludes both. And it's by which the Fed bases its decisions on.

Puzzles me! Basic human costs are not considered to be "core"! So fuel prices might shoot thru the roof, but sorry there wont be any inflation and everybody's supposed to feel good about that... hhmmm interesting

Talking about fuel costs - if I were a major oil producer and currently enjoyin this boomtime and my citizens were flourishing, would I want the prices to come down? Wld I go out of my way to produce more? and for whom? haha the infidels?