Commodities prices are surging. World white sugar prices reached record levels on Aug. 10, largely because of booming demand in India where the government has lifted a ban on imports.

The Fed continues to preach that high unemployment will stymie any chance of (hyper) inflation taking hold and stealing our collective wealth.  Michael Ponto of Delta Global Advisors believes just the opposite.

Consumer Prices Increase Less Than Expected; Ten Banks Repay TARP Debt; Bankrupt Eddie Bauer Attempts Sale; Berkshire Hathaway Options Begin Trading; FedEx Losses Mount; Saab Cuts Debt; Gas Prices Keep Going, Going, Up; Boeing Gets First Air Show Order; China Will Invest Sovereign Wealth in Hedge Funds; Analyst: S&P 500 Will Hit New Highs By 2012; Bond Yields Drop; Mortgage Apps Plunge

A Turn Around Tuesday?  BRIC meeting doesn’t get covered by the media?  Are the Bearer Bonds real or fakes?  QTC’s get Gov. backing! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Industrial Production declines…  Stocks sell off, leading currencies down…  Indian election spurs a rally…  China stockpiles commodities… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Stocks edged up in early morning trading today (Thursday) as an uptick in producer prices and steady earnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) outweighed a surge in jobless claims last week.

Why invest in commodities? Two and a half billion people are going to live like Americans in the next 20 years and prices go up over time, that’s the nature of inflation.

The consumer price index (CPI) moved 0.4% in February, a little higher than expected and a sign that consumers are dipping their feet back into the water – slowly.

Like a vanquished enemy, inflation has been out of sight and out of mind. But old enemies can resurrect themselves.  And that’s just what’s going to happen with inflation, two fixed-income experts say.

The 1970s didn’t just curse the world with cheap German wine and the Bay City Rollers. That decade gave us soaring inflation, too.