[JAMES PIETERSE]

The 1970's are back!!! A Jimmy Carter clone is in the White House, high inflation, high gas prices, high unemployment, a Middle East "crisis", all that's missing is high interest rates...

Oh, wait...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj...

Fed Official Sees Rates Inching Up This Year

The president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank said Thursday the Fed may need to increase short-term interest rates by year's end if underlying inflation rises as he anticipates. Wooooo Hoooooo!!! Break out the disco balls, platform shoes, bell bottom pants and put a vinyl Bee Gees record on the Hi-Fi, baby!!!

Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive, stayin alive. Ah, ah, ah, ah, staaaaaayin' aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive, Yeah!!!

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...nflation_N.htm

Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon expects inflation

By Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAYUpdated 4h 35m ago |

U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation in the months ahead for clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S. operations warned Wednesday.

The world's largest retailer is working with suppliers to minimize the effect of cost increases and believes its low-cost business model will position it better than its competitors.

Still, inflation is "going to be serious," Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said during a meeting with USA TODAY's editorial board. "We're seeing cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate."

Along with steep increases in raw material costs, John Long, a retail strategist at Kurt Salmon, says labor costs in China and fuel costs for transportation are weighing heavily on retailers. He predicts prices will start increasing at all retailers in June.

"Every single retailer has and is paying more for the items they sell, and retailers will be passing some of these costs along," Long says. "Except for fuel costs, U.S. consumers haven't seen much in the way of inflation for almost a decade, so a broad-based increase in prices will be unprecedented in recent memory."

Consumer prices — or the consumer price index — rose 0.5% in February, the most since mid-2009, largely because of surging food and gasoline prices. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose a more modest 0.2%, though that still exceeded estimates.