Ben Bernanke is scheduled to deliver his first formal press conference later today on behalf of the Federal Reserve. It’s a safe bet that the subject of inflation will be front and center. Although consumer price inflation is low by historical standards, there’s no shortage of worries about the direction for pricing pressures. Fed critics are quick to note that the consumer price index (CPI) is higher by 2.7% for the year through last month. More worrisome, we’re told, is that the trend is up sharply from as recently as last November’s 1.1% annual pace.