Another title for this post was “What the Bagelman knows.”br /br /I know that everyone is quick to raise prices when input costs rise – crude oil for one. But the local bagel shop still sports a sign in the window explaining why bagels now cost a lot more than they did a year ago. Wheat prices are through the roof!br /br /But check out this chart. They are not at those lofty levels anymore and bagel, pizza and beer prices have not budged lower.br /br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0kPlZMvFr70/SKB32XlTC4I/AAAAAAAAAD8/WF1ByYBmZLM/s1600-h/chart1aug11.png”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0kPlZMvFr70/SKB32XlTC4I/AAAAAAAAAD8/WF1ByYBmZLM/s320/chart1aug11.png” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233314542931610498″ border=”0″ //aPerhaps main street knows something we don’t know? Perhaps Washington, with its record inflation report recently, knows something for a change?br /br /And speaking of Washington, the CNN anchor and the weather guy made a funny today. Temperatures in DC are lower this week and congress is out on vacation. Coincidence? I think not!! (think lack of hot air).br /br /By the way, the stock market also seems to do better when congress is not in session, too. Look that one up in your Funk amp; Wagnall’s.