This final note on the way out, a stop by the commodities desk. Gold hit $1,500 an ounce for the first time today. No, not in inflation-adjusted dollars, to be sure, but a hefty sum, nonetheless. That’s a bet that despite what Ben Bernanke and his colleagues at the Fed say, inflation’s on the way.

And along those lines: oil a year after BP? Up 3 percent today to $111.53 a barrel.