An argument is that oil, gas, food and other consumed goods that the Fed tracks for inflation are different because these are disposable -- consumed -- so inflation of these costs is a different measure than inflation in stock prices and home values. However, stocks are clearly disposable, judging by trading volumes, and rarely does one live in a home for 30 or more years any longer. The inflation that Americans have not complained about is a run-up in their stock portfolios or home values. The DJIA has grown 100% in the past 10 years. Some home values have done the same. Home values are softening across much of the country, and stock values in many categories are as well. Meanwhile, gasoline prices are improving. To protect the stock market and home values, the Fed is deflating the value of savings, and not in the name of fighting inflation, as Bernanke admits U.S. economic growth is slow. Free markets will find the edge, and usually go beyond it to discover where the line was, in any capitalistic pursuit, as Greenspan attests. So, Americans and other investors in the U.S. stock market and in homes have simply done the same. It is best to let those that went over the line fail, lest they pull the whole system over with them. I am told that this, politically, will not be permitted. In its "saving face" tradition, Japan didn't permit market failure either, and it spent more than a decade in economic uncertainty. The U.S. marketplace is exceptional in that it has institutions for failure, e.g. bankruptcy, write-offs and write-downs. The U.S. system should be allowed to work. Clear the books; move on. --Nissa Darbonne, Executive Editor, Oil and Gas Investor, A&D Watch, Oil and Gas Investor This Week, www.OilandGasInvestor.com; ndarbonne@hartenergy.com