"bernanke shrugs off inflation"

"-- "Rising global demand for raw materials...coupled with constraints on global supply in some cases," are largely responsible for the recent increase in commodity prices, not the Fed's easy money policies.
-- "While obviously as problem for a lot of people," higher gasoline prices don't yet pose a major threat to the recovery or inflation.
Of course, Bernanke likely feels he has to project calm about these issues and we can't know what he's really thinking, although it's very possible the Fed chairman sees higher energy prices as a reason to keep the monetary floodgates open wide because of the threat posed to the recovery.

Still, his statements suggest a lack of concern about inflationary pressures that is increasingly out of step with the experience of consumers, and action in the financial markets. The Fed prefers to focus on core inflation measures, which remain at multi-decade lows, but that doesn't help anyone who actually has to buy food, energy or other "volatile" commodities stripped out of the core rate."
*THIS GUY IS AN ABJECT IDIOT

D