Regardless of what the CPI data says, it may very well be that political worries about price inflation will have to take a back seat at the Fed because the Treasury needs the Fed to step in and force down interest rates to keep the federal government’s mounting deficits manageable. After all, with quarterly interest payments on the national debt now reaching north of a trillion dollars, debt service will consume the federal budget unless the Fed intervenes to force down interest rates. History has shown that the Fed has always intervened in this way when “asked,” and its safe bet the Fed and the Treasury are already focusing on debt management as a significant political problem.