>Others like Doug will have a better handle on this, but I think the US CPI
>has risen by between 1%-3% each year over the past decade. There may have
>been a month or two in the recent period when the price index actually
>declined slightly, triggering concerns about deflation..
There were four negative month-to-month CPIs in 2003 (April, May, October, November, if you're keeping score), and four in 2001 (July, October, November, December) but the year-to-year numbers never went negative. Since 2001, the yarly CPI has aveaged 2.3%.
Doug