"India has taken a novel approach to its 7% inflation rate--at least where steel, a commodity nearly as critical as rice, is concerned. Now the New Delhi government is hinting that it might regulate prices. The threat spurred the nation's steelmakers to lower prices a smidgen. They weren't happy about it, since they're already paying more for coke and iron ore. Some populist politicians want to ban steel futures contracts, which they claim artificially drive up prices. That hasn't happened, though India has outlawed contracts in some grains."
"Alas, none of the above seems to work for long. Lowering inflation typically involves pain: recession, interest rate hikes or both. "A price increase is a message about scarcity," notes Alexander Tabarrok, an economist at George Mason University. "Price controls are like shooting the messenger."
The Fed isn’t part of the solution, it’s part of the problem. When you keep printing money 24/7/365 inflation is the result.
The dollar can fall the easier way or the harder way. So far, it’s been falling the easier way. If you believe that current inflation is terrible, imagine rapid deflation for some products combined with continued inflation for other products.
In Septemeber of 2007 home heating oil in Maine was 2.89 today it is 3.69. folks are trying to lock in for next eyar at 4.14. K-1, ten years ago, sold for 50 cents a gallon, today it is 4.15.