Yellen and Company Get Another Shot of Xanax

It has been nicely documented how leadership at the Fed past and present continue an irrational fear of deflation.  Well, they should be feeling even better than they were this time last month. The BLS reports that the CPI increased at an annual rate of 3.6%. That is the highest rate since last June. Most disturbing is that the pace of the increase is picking up as well. Indeed prices rose in April at a rate a third faster than the did the month before. Not to be left out, in April wholesale prices rose at their fastest pace in a year. Can you imagine how bad things would be if there was no deflation????