Inflation. Everybody agrees it's coming back. Make that roaring back. No one says otherwise. After all, the government is spending money like it's someone else's (it is ... ours). With extreme stimulus, surely inflation will have to be a problem, commodity prices have to rise, real estate has to go up, too much money will chase too few goods and services. That's the classic definition of inflation.

It's obvious what investors have to do: they have to buy inflation-proof investments, such as gold, commodities and real estate. Maybe it's too obvious. Maybe if everyone else is buying those things, there's reason to pause and reconsider.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its unanimous decision. The language on interest rates and quantitative easing remained unchanged. It indicated that inflation is not a problem despite a recent rise in oil prices and sees economic stabilization although continued weakness.

This decision was designed to avoid potential landmines which could disrupt the financial markets. In other words, the FOMC wanted this statement to be a non-event and seems to have largely succeeded.

In the biggest flim flam ever foisted on the American people, the Commerce Department reported that the CPI rose only 0.1% in May. Now this number is ridiculous because this "core" rate excludes food and energy. If you have been gassing up your car lately, you know that gas is now pushing $3.00 per gallon.

Nevertheless, the government says "not to worry about inflation." Well if you look more closely you'll find that gas prices actually rose 3.5% in May with crude oil prices trading near $72.00 per barrel.

This morning, the Labor Department announced that its consumer price index rose less than expected during May. This data is considered the latest evidence that the recession is continuing, keeping inflation in check. According to the Labor Department, the index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in May, falling short of expectations for a 0.3% rise. Taking food and energy costs out of the equation, core prices increased 0.1%, matching expectations.

The recession is forcing prices lower, with the unemployment rate advancing to a 25-year high, and factories are operating at record-low levels. Some analysts suggest that we could see a period of deflation -- which is a destabilizing period of extended declines. Although lower prices may seem good, deflation could lead to consumers delaying purchases, which could then lead to drops in production and in wage cuts.

Markets were mixed and downish Tuesday, but there was some good news to be found.

Housing starts and building permits soared, causing a big pop in shares to battered homebuilders. Whether this is a false start or a real jump, its hard to get anything but good news out of a housing market so beaten down.

On the industrial side, the Produce Price Index remained relatively stable, walking the narrow path between two evils -- deflation and inflation.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, Mr. Phelps, is to boost the economy and increase employment but not allow inflation to run rampant. As usual, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions should you fail. This message will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Mr. Phelps. Or should that be Mr. Bernanke?

That, in a nut shell, is the fine line the Fed must walk. It has to get the economy going and more people back to work, mostly by pumping money into the economy. But it can't put too much money into the system or inflation will run rampant. Right now, the presses are running 24/7, and the money is flying out the Treasury's and Fed's windows, seemingly to almost anyone walking underneath them. The stimulus package is in full swing. But what signs are there that it's working?

With the Federal Reserve printing presses running on high, many investors are fearing the prospect of inflation -- especially as real estate values start to show signs of stabilization and some commodities show rising values.

But Wall Street Journal (subscription required)economic editor David Wessel wonders whether inflation fears are overblown, and suggests that it can be avoided: "The question now is whether central bankers and the rest of us will remember the lessons of the late '70s and do whatever it takes to avoid inflation."

Mary Anne and Pamela Aden are among the advisory world's top authorities on metals and resources.

In a recent Q&A session, the editors of The Aden Forecast answer the most common questions that they are asked by readers as to the current state and future outlook for the precious metals markets.

In addition, the sisters answer what they say is the most frequent question they receive: "What is the best way to buy gold." Here, they offer a review of five strategies for investing in gold, including their top picks among stocks, closed-end funds and ETFs.

Since the hyper inflation of the 1970's the Federal Reserve has been plagued with fighting inflation, the number one bad guy of the economy. Now we are in a deflationary cycle and the Fed is using all the tricks in its bag to end this decline and turn the economy around.

One theory being thrown about is that if you create inflation, deflation will go away. Now, this is the wildest proposal to come out of the mouths of economists. Gregory Mankiv and Kenneth Rogoff are advocating 6% inflation for at least a couple of years.

When we took a look at oil prices last Friday oil was hitting a new 6 month high, and we noted that we could be seeing $60 oil by the end of this week. We did indeed see oil hitting $60 this week, but today prices took a hit, dropping back down under $57 a barrel.

The main reason prices retreated today was in reaction to disappointing news on retail sales, unemployment, and more bad news from the housing market. Oil has dropped $2.10 a barrel today to $56.52, and some analysts think that it still has a way to go before stabilizing.

"Inflation protected bonds hold an interesting hybridized place among Fidelity's bond fund lineup," says Jim Lowell in his Fidelity Investor. Here's the fund advisor's look at Fidelity Inflation-Protected Bond Fund (FINPX).

"When fear of recession (and fear while in recession) hold the upper hand, they behave more like longer-term Treasuries.

"When fear of inflation rises, and long term Treasuries go into a tailspin, these bonds benefit from their inflation protected top spin. "Right now, after the strongest general market rally since the Great Depression, things feel less gloomy (even though they still look relatively dicey).

This morning, the Bank of England's Monetary Police Committee (BOE) decided to keep its interest rate at the current all-time low of 0.5%, as was expected. The BOE announced that it would continue its 75-billion pound program, which is supposed to increase the money supply in hopes of keeping deflation at bay.

The BOE stated that, "since its previous meeting a total of just over 26 billion pounds of asset purchases had been made and that it would take a further two months to complete that program." Some experts believe the BOE will hold interest rates at 0.5% "well into 2010." Before the bank made its decision, the 10-year yield was hovering around 3.34%.

The Federal Reserve is starting to purchase long term U.S. treasuries to bring down borrowing costs. This is a rare move, the first since the 1960s when the Fed wanted to make adjustments in the yield curve.

The Federal Reserve is not alone in this policy. The governments of Japan and the U.K. are also purchasing government debt in an effort to get credit flowing again after cutting interest rates to near zero.

In the midst of a worldwide recession Britain's CPI (consumer price index) rose 3.2% in February. This is not supposed to happen. In normal circumstances consumer prices usually drop or remain steady during a recession. The Office of National Statistics in Britain said that the increase in the CPI was due to an increase in food prices.

Now all of the pundits are scrambling for an explanation. Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, blames it on the depreciation in the British pound. Since the summer of 2007, the pound has fallen 28%. Mr. King tried to soothe investors by saying that he expects inflation to fall to the government's target of 2% later this year.

In one of my previous blogs: Is the stock market spring loaded? I coined the phrase Lightspeed Inflation in reference to the rate at which the government was able to dilute our currency. It is time we stopped referring to the government's over spending as "running the printing presses".

We have reached a point, given our maximum note size of $100, that we would actually be better off if the government did have to print the money. Now they can just add whatever amount they want to the balance sheet electronically.