[Dr. Frank fan]

Don’t know about you but my anecdotal experience suggests there’s far more inflation in prices than the .8% in the latest report.

You have anecdotal experience of buying a representative basket of things at the beginning of the third quarter and then buying a comparable basket of things again at the end of the third quarter, and noticing a significant price difference?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say: No, you don't.

[saganite]

You’re going out on the wrong limb then. And why would you doubt that I’ve seen higher prices on food and fuel? Are you just whistling past the graveyard? Or maybe it’s wishful thinking on your part since you want to believe those growth numbers.

[Copernicus]

You have anecdotal experience of buying a representative basket of things at the beginning of the third quarter and then buying a comparable basket of things again at the end of the third quarter, and noticing a significant price difference?

Consider the lowly can of tuna. It has reached nearly farcical water/solid proportions.

While the price PER CAN has increased a relatively modest 25% in price over a two year period, the contents have dropped by at least 50%.

Apparently, the canneries cannot afford to retool the plants to stop using the old 16oz can so they just change the water/oil ratio.

The label is still correct (ie the former 16oz can of tuna now holds around 7-8 oz of fish) only the price and amount have changed.

There are many anecdotal examples like this, universally adjusted by the experts to discount their significance.

At the end of the day, people, regardless of income levels have a sinking sense "something is not right"

They are correct.

Best regards,

[CDHart]

I can tell you that over the last quarter, almost every item in the grocery stores has gone up several percentage points.

Carolyn