In a semiannual report to Congress, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told politicians that commodity-price inflation, and oil prices more specifically, could pose a threat to economic growth and price stability if sustained at high levels, while at the same time reassuring markets and politicians that inflation remained low and expectations stable.
Never mind that Ben Bernanke had just finished telling the Senate Banking Committee that rising oil prices were not a threat to the economy in the near-term.
Ben Meyer is on standby, waiting to see how the massive oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico impacts beachside communities along the Louisiana, Alabama and Florida coastlines.