"We didn't get much for that $100", proclaimed my wife as we left the store.  "Welcome to inflation", I said.  No, the C note doesn't go as far as it used to.  No news there.  But people are starting to sit up and take notice.  I think we've just lived a certain way for so long, just buying what we wanted when we wanted it, that we became disconnected from reality somewhat.  I stumbled across an old grocery ad from 1995 last week.  Lettuce, .69 cents; tomatos, .79 cents a pound.  How did things get so expesive before we really noticed?  I'm quite serious.  I just don't think the average person has really paid attention to the rapid pace of inflation over the last few years.  It happened.  Sky high gas and diesel prices are mainly the reason.  But I think for the most part, we've just rocked along, not so much unaware, but apathetic.  You got to eat.  And unless your a theif, your spending hard earned money to do it.  The bottom line is getting shaken very, very hard now.  The latest data shows that we're spending 9% of our expendable income on gas.  Statistically, they say, we're doing great.  The economy is growing.  As Mark Twain often said, "there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics".  My fuel is costing me a whole lot more than 9 %.  And the statistics can and do lie. Seeing is believing and I know what I see in that shopping cart.  Uncle Sam, please don't try to help me.  You've done enough.

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