In theory I fully support what Bob is saying. It is completely logical and makes total sense.

However, I distrust the official CPI numbers to such a degree (combined with my anecdotal experience), that I'm not sure if its worked as well as Bob says. Its quite possible that the truth is somewhere in the middle of Murphy - Kelton in this case.

To add: The biggest driver here seems to be federal fiscal policy, since they are the single biggest spender in the economy. High interest rates have seemingly done nothing to curb their spending. In fact, it has seemed to accelerate it. They don't even seem to 'care' that they are borrowing money to pay bond interest at this point. Its not even a talking point anymore.