Il y a un mois, j'avais posté un billet sur le "Producer Price Index" américain qui laissait présager que, malgré le ralentissement économique, les politiques irresponsables de Réserve Fédérale mettaient la table pour une inflation importante.

Les données les plus récentes n'ont pas inversé cette tendance.

Bloomberg
Consumer Prices in U.S. Increase More Than Forecast

The cost of living in the U.S. rose more than forecast in February.  The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent after a 0.3 percent increase in January, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Excluding food and fuel, the so-called core rate climbed 0.2 percent for a second month. Fuel, clothing and automobile costs led the advance last month. The gains last month pushed the annual inflation rate up to 1.8 percent.

Consumer prices were forecast to rise 0.3 percent, according to the median of 71 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from gains of 0.1 percent to 0.7 percent. Costs excluding food and energy, known as core prices, were projected to rise 0.1 percent.

Prices rose 0.2 percent from February 2008, up from no change in the prior 12-month period that was the weakest performance since 1955.

The core rate climbed 1.8 percent from February 2008, after a 1.7 percent year-over-year increase the prior month.

Energy expenses increased 3.3 percent, led by an 8.3 increase in gasoline prices. Still, the fuel’s cost is down 36 percent from a year earlier.

Food prices, which account for about a fifth of the CPI, fell 0.1 percent, the first drop since April 2006.

The cost of commodities, excluding food and fuel, rose 0.4 percent, the most since September 1999, indicating the broad- based nature of price increases. New vehicle prices increased 0.8 percent, the most since November 2004, and clothing costs jumped 1.3 percent, the most in almost 19 years.

Et ce n'est qu'un début.  Hier, la Réserve Fédérale américaine a annoncé qu'elle allait imprimer un autre billion de dollars.