The Real Interest Rate Is Already Negative

``And speaking of the rising prices, writing in Bloomberg today, Craig Torres and Simon Kennedy correctly note that interest rates and inflation are pretty close to each other at the moment, but they seem to have not kept up with the latest economic data (Fed Funds rate = 3.5 percent, December year-over-year inflation = 4.1 percent or compound Q4 annual rate = 5.6 percent).''