“Don’t expect to see any drop in the prices you pay at the pump — or at the grocery store or anywhere else — from any decline in the price of commodities. The price of gas at the pump actually climbed to a new high at $3.983 a gallon last week, according to automobile club AAA, even as the price of oil was falling. (And it kept on climbing, to $4 a gallon, on June 8 after a two-day rally in crude oil prices.)

You can expect the same from other commodities that have tumbled in price. Consumer prices will stay high even as commodity costs come down. Wheat prices are down. From a record $13.95 a bushel on Feb. 27, the most actively traded contract on the Chicago Board of Trade had dropped 42% to $7.78 a bushel on June 5. The prices of most other commodities — well, except for corn, which has soared as heavy rains have held up planting — have tumbled in recent weeks. See any drop in the price of bread or in a meal at your favorite restaurant?

No, and don’t expect to. There’s no quick relief coming to consumers even if commodities continue — or resume, in the case of corn and oil — their retreats in prices.”

More from Jim Jubak’s Journal at MSN Money.