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Eh, main drivers of inflation right now are food and oil, neither of which is affected a whole lot by fed funds rate. Food prices are high for a variety of policy/trade/weather reasons (corn has skyrocketed due to US ethanol policy), and oil prices are high because, well, it's oil.

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"Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." - Milton Friedman

Oil does not cause inflation. Genuine shortages could inch up prices, but there really are no shortages right now. The usual cause of inflation (and the only cause of hyperinflation) is always the same...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Components_of_the_United_...

>Oil does not cause inflation But increased demand often increases prices. You're talking about monetary inflation, but remember there's also price inflation. If some good, x, is more sought after and the supply doesn't increase, as with oil, the price will go up. Oil was $20/barrel five years ago and hit $100 recently.

As david927 pointed out, I should clarify that I was talking about price inflation.

Now that I think about it though, Dauntless' comment about hyperinflation was probably talking about what you say... monetary inflation (where monetary unit has less value)... so just ignore my comment.

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