inflation, yes have some

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

(I'm not sure what ap on bi go ec fi means)

Story points out that food and energy prices rose a lot, making the inflation rate what it was. But neglected in the coverage is the steady rise of higher education costs and medical care. They do mention medical care, but it's buried in the back end of the story. It beat out food cost rises.

Food, based on the general waistline of Americans, probably should be rising in cost. This however assumes that it is largely the foods that Americans are consuming in copious amounts and not some things that might be overall healthy in their effect. I did notice bananas went up 2 cents a pound. And milk seems to be on sale less often. That's about it.

In any case the idea that inflation is a constant for all people is something that Americans like to believe, but seem to be ignorant about. It's rather silly to index consumer prices for anything because those prices rise more sharply for some people over others. Parents with college age children or the elderly, people with high levels of travel in their work, etc. For most people, while the energy spike was troubling and worth complaining about, very few Americans did anything about it. Fewer SUVs or trucks were sold I suppose. Whoopie.