Up, up and away

Wholesale prices shot up 3.2 percent, the biggest jump in 34 years, propelled by a record rise in gasoline prices. Meanwhile, consumers put aside worries about the weak economy in November to storm into the shopping malls, pushing up retail sales by the largest amount in six months.

Uh-huh... it's always those evil oil companies driving up prices everywhere. That convenient scapegoat obscures the fact our central bankers are watering down the value of our money in a futile attempt to keep their rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul policies going. In many respects, gas prices are rising because of our fiscal policy, not despite them.

The Bank of England, plus four other powerful world banks are to inject £53.7 billion into international money markets in an attempt to ease the affect of the global credit crunch.

The Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and their equivalents in Canada and Switzerland have joined forces to try and make lending between banks easier in order to avoid another crisis like Northern Rock. ((which, incidentally, the bank brought on itself through questionable investments in mortgage securities. Why are government institutions subsidizing the consequences of these mistakes?? -- Jemison))

Mortgage bailouts, prescription drug benefits and global wars on everyone are expensive. The money has to come from somewhere. When it comes from printing presses, that's bad for everyone. It's called inflation.