You have to shake your head when you see this contradictory reality. The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, gave a “tough talk” on inflation, according to The New York Times yesterday.

In his toughest comments yet about the risks of inflation, Mr. Bernanke said consumer prices were rising faster than he would like. He gave short shrift to evidence of a slowdown in hiring, and he conspicuously avoided repeating his earlier suggestion that the Fed might consider a “pause” in its two-year program of steady interest rate increases.

This is a great example of the disconnect between the elite and working people. Because just the other day, the Economic Policy Institute showed us that job growth has slowed significantly for the second month in a row. Rather than raise interest rates anymore, EPI has a different view:

Putting these facts together, policy makers need to be mindful of a weakened job market and the negative impact this could have on working families, many of whom are already feeling the squeeze of higher gas prices and weak real wage trends. From the perspective of the Federal Reserve, this would suggest holding interest rates steady, to avoid pouring more water on a fire that is showing worrisome signs of generating less heat.

You can read the entire EPI report here. Yet another example of the Fed paying much more attention to the stock and bond markets, rather than the lives of real people.