Keith Fitz-gerald (Whiskey & Gunpowder):
Everything we know about classic economic theory suggests the U.S. economy should be experiencing Zimbabwe-like hyperinflation right now, thanks to the nearly $2.2 trillion the U.S. Federal Reserve has pumped into the system.

U.S. stocks and oil prices turned south on Friday as investors questioned recent rallies in the face of economic data that still shows a mixed picture of when economies will rise from a deep global recession.

The US inflation rate rose by 0.6% in May — the highest monthly increase since last November.

The core inflation rate, however, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, only rose 0.2%, easing fears that rising commodity prices would feed into more widespread inflation

But can the government’s inflation data be trusted? John Brown in The Daily Reckoning doesn’t think so…

I really wouldn’t like to be the man in charge of sorting out the UK economy today. Almost every piece of economic data so far this week has been as bad as it could be.

Fortune magazine asks an interesting question: How do you account for the discrepancy between the Fed’s recent assurances that inflation is under control and the 91% of the population (according to a March CNN poll) that’s worried it isn’t?

The answer? The feds focus on what they call “core” inflation. This strips out energy and food from the consumer price index because of their theoretical vulnerability to short-term volatility — magically making inflation seem smaller than it is.