General Discussion

It is much higher than that. Every restaurant I go to has been increasing their prices at least 5% every 90 days. There is one I went to a year ago -- a fixed price buffet, and the total was $14 including soft drink. Yesterday it was $21. That is 50% in a year. That's more than others, but all of them are up at least 20%.

The CPI has always been bullshit because it is based on an artificial "market basket" and most of the contents of the basket are either directly price-controlled (through the farm bill) or at least aggressively managed (as with the strategic petroleum reserve.)

Real inflation is well over 10% these days. I am the President of two different boards, and I can assure you that everything we have to buy (concrete, moving services, plowing, legal services, insurance, theater rental, tech crews, security ... everything) has been going up far faster than 4% for at least the past 3 years. But none of those items is in the official market basket.