[lelio]

Medical insurance costs have been going up 10-15% *per year.*

And so have housing prices (although rents are falling). How the government can claim we have sub 1% inflation is beyond me.

Well it isn't entirely beyond my non-economist brain: they perform trickery. Like saying that a family can switch from eating expensive beef to eating cheaper chicken as being an equal trade, and not a sign of increasing prices. Hey, they're still getting their calories, right?

[RipSawyer]

)." How the government can claim we have sub 1% inflation is beyond me."

It is easy when you use their "market basket". We need an index based on necessities only and I mean REAL necessities, such an index would show huge annual increases.
As it stands now, the government figures are meaningless.

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

And so have housing prices (although rents are falling). How the government can claim we have sub 1% inflation is beyond me.

Microwaves go from $149 to $49 and it is hailed as a free market triumph. Meanwhile, I get to pay a half-million dollars for a house made of sawdust and glue with wages that are less than half of what they used to be. Sounds like a good trade-off to me.