Precisely. There is manipulation across the board. Some of the packaging is getting really ridiculous. The argument that higher inflation would indicate that the economy has been contracting could be phrased differently: What if the "great slowdown" as per Peter Thiel is one in value, lack in progress, cheaper quality products, shaving off everywhere to retain a facade, pushing out real world goals and targets to future decades etc. This does not mean there won't be any progress or some obvious deflation (electronics, biotech). It's still an important discussion to be had (the effect of found monetary standards on the economy/technological progress. http://wtf1971.com/ and The Bitcoin Standard obviously have a different perspective on these reported inflation numbers.