Inflation Isn't Too High; It's Too Low

After all these years of modest price increases, a lot of Americans still can’t get used to two big ideas. One is that inflation really is low, despite your impressions as a shopper that everything seems to be getting more expensive. The other is that inflation can be too low. It seems illogical: Why would anyone ever want to pay more for stuff?

The truth is that inflation really is low when you take into account everything that you pay for, not just the items that are jumping in price (such as Manhattan real estate and meat). The Consumer Price Index rose just 1.1 percent over the 12 months through February. That’s based on prices collected by surveyors for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a federal agency that is strictly nonpolitical.