Anyone who takes a trip to the grocery store or to a gas station knows that prices are going through the roof. Just the other day I went shopping and bananas where selling for 99 cents per pound. Just a couple of months ago they were 49 cents per pound. Gas is approaching $4 dollars a gallon in Manhattan and folks are really beginning to feel the hurt. Indeed, inflation at the wholesale level soared in March at nearly triple the rate that had been expected as the costs of energy and food both climbed rapidly. Oil prices hit a new high, rising over $113 a barrel. Meanwhile, President Bush continues to pour billions of dollars into what some say is an illegal war which was thrust among us by a cabal of neo-conservatives more interested in the welfare of other countries. I hope you all enjoyed paying your taxes yesterday to a government that is increasingly out of step with its people. In spite of all this horrible news the stock market has held up remarkably well. Perhaps investors are hopeful that come November the country will chart a new course in both economics and foreign policy. I sure hope so.