https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA6zZLw6wpU YES, inflation is TEMPORARY due to a tightened oil market + transportation cost. What is strange is that we are in a deflationary recession due to falling global demand on account of job losses + low income jobs. THE PROBLEM for Americans is NOT INFLATION, but THE UNSTOPPABLE FALL OF THE U.S. $. IT'S TABOO TO TALK ABOUT AS IT WOULD ADD FURTHER DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON THE OVERPRICE EQUITY MARKETS driven by fear of A SHARP, INEVITABLE DOWNTURN that will wipe out the wealth of the equity markets. The thinking seems to be it's going to happen, BUT LET"S NOT HAVE IT HAPPEN NOW. By doing everything to avoid it CREATES THE SERIOUSLY ARTIFICIAL EQUITY MARKET we currently have that prevents THE BEAR FORCES from tempering the market value by KEEPING THEIR VALUES REAL. :D Ken, Toronto, CANADA THE KEY TO INVESTING IN THE STOCK MARKET is to have "in place" decision rules: for example, if THE WORTH OF A STOCK you own goes UP 10%, YOU SELL! And, should it go DOWN (should it "dip") YOU SELL! However, THE KEY DETERMINING FACTOR is "the market trend": if it's POSITIVE (Stock prices are going UP!), you stand to make $; if it's NEGATIVE (Stock prices are going DOWN!): GET OUT! (CUT YOUR LOSSES). THE BANKS are laughing - NOW - given THE "HIGHLY" OVERPRICED STOCK MARKET driven by fear of an impending SEVERE CORRECTION. UNFORTUNATELY, though, DOWN THE ROAD - IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE - they'll be INVESTING AT A LOSS. The coming "severe" global economic contraction will be SO SEVERE (BECAUSE IT WILL BE PROLONGED OVER A FEW DECADES) that THE ONLY AMERICAN BANK that can possibly survive is the-now-American-owned Toronto Dominion Bank. The small ones will go SOONER. There are CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: 1. the LEVEL OF BAD DEBT on the books; 2. their habit of RISKY LENDING. THE STRONGEST DRIVIN OVERALL NEGATIVE FACTOR is THE FALLING U.S. $ that NO ONE wants talk about for fear of SPOOKING American STOCK MARKETS. THE GOOD NEWS is that U.S. banks are passing THE FINANCIAL STRESS TESTS today! That's NOW! THE BAD NEWS is they'll tank - LIKE THE TITANIC. What we are talking about is THE INEVITABLE QUASI-COLLAPSE of the U.S. economy. Ken, Toronto, CANADA