Inflation puzzle.(COMMENTARY)

Byline: Alfred Tella, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES For some time now the five major measures of core or underlying consumer inflation have been telling a discomforting tale. The Federal Reserve's preferred measure, the Commerce Department's core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index, which excludes all food and energy prices, has been rising by more than 2 percent year-over-year since spring 2004 - above the Fed's 1 percent to 2 percent comfort zone.

For the first quarter of this year the PCE core price index clocked in at 2.2 percent above last year's first quarter. ...

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