I live in Silicon Valley. My spending is actually down slightly from 2003 - that mostly appears due to minor lifestyle changes (eating out less, turned off cable) but is certainly incompatible with rampant inflation. Cost-of-living looks basically flat. I shop at the same grocery store (Draegers .... Mmmmmm) that I did in 2003.
On the other hand, I have noticed a spike in the office vending machine snack prices (to $.80/item!) and, of course, gas looks to have roughly doubled. But neither of those are big expenses for me.
At the risk of engaging of contradiction, that 30% number doesn't jibe with my data whatsoever.
Have to disagree that current mortgage rates have little to do with current inflation rates. Additionally, inflation is such a tricky thing to measure (because the prices of different things fluctuate with respect to one another, and through time, all the time - I can give you a (bad) argument that we're experiencing massive deflation by looking only at the prices of 100GB HDs) that it seems entirely fair to me to point out that someone's inflation statistic is incompatible with the behaviour of many, many people who are paid to get this sort of thing right.
