As I have been saying for many weeks inflation is back and is it’s beginning to worry some people including the chairman of the Federal Reserve. This past week Ben Bernanke delivered a speech in which he said inflation is now a “significant concern”. To the extent that the overall inflation rate has averaged about 3.5% over the past four quarters the Fed is worried since this pace is higher than expected. Indeed, the consumer price index rose 3.9% for the year ending April. At the same time Mr. Bernanke said he thought there was little sign that current inflation trends would translate into the 10% inflation experienced during the 1970’s. Let’s hope so