Free Republic

A frequent question posed to those who tilt toward the inflation side of the alleged inflation/deflation debate is that if inflation is such a problem, why isn't it registering in the consumer price index? The answer to this question lies in reports of pricing pressures around the world. As readers of the major newspapers have doubtless seen in recent months, prices - particularly commodity prices of the food and energy variety - have been increasing on the way to rising consumer price measures in places such as China, India, England, Euroland more broadly, and in the increasingly inflamed Middle East....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. industrial output grew strongly last month while producer prices fell at the sharpest rate in 1-1/2 years amid tumbling energy prices, according to reports suggesting healthy, noninflationary growth. U.S. factories, mines and utilities boosted production by a more-than-expected 0.8 percent in December, leading to a 4.1 percent gain for all of 2004, the best annual showing in four years, a Federal Reserve report showed on Friday. Separately, the Labor Department said producer prices dropped 0.7 percent last month, a sharper-than-expected decline and the biggest since April 2003. Prices were also well contained when excluding volatile food...