2.9% eh? Well, don’t ask me how they come up with that, because everything I need for daily life, like fuel and food, is going up far faster than 2.9% per year. Big screen TV prices are probably deflating, but I can’t eat ‘em and don’t buy a new one every month.
I use my custom Spam index to estimate inflation. Three years ago, I could get a can of Spam for $2. Now they run almost $3. That, my FRiend, is a whole lot of infation. If I can’t eat or drive to/from work, what good do lower housing and appliance prices do for me? Not much.
But if a big screen TV goes down from $3,000 to $2,500 during the same period of time that $2,500 worth of food and gasoline goes up in price to $3,000, the government tells me there is zero net inflation...so I should shut up and be happy to live in Obama's Workers Paradise.
And now I'm confused. :)