Time for a Diet

John Mauldin shows us where inflation lives:

"Few people I know slice and dice the details in the data better than good friend Greg Weldon (www.weldononline.com). Let's look at some of the tidbits he found buried in the CPI data.

Food at home prices (different than restaurants) are rising at a three-month rate of over 8.6%, up from only 0.8% in January. Alcoholic beverages (!) are up 7.1% on a three-month basis versus 2% in January (bad news for bud Art Cashin and the Friends of Fermentation at the NYSE). Ditto for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs at 10.1%! Overall, the three-month rate for CPI food has spiked to 6.4% since being at 2.1% in January.

For most of the country, food and energy are at the core of our expenses. When we spend more on food and energy, we have less to spend on other goods and services."