[beepbeep]

Discussion of inflation isn't moot.

Just beacuse technology progressed and you can buy microwave owen for 40 bucks doesn't mean that there is no inflation.

It's better to check prices for a basket of products.

Inflation is also a way to quench raising pays. If your pay grows 3% a year but prices grow 6% a year you are effectivly getting less to buy with (unless you are buying computers and microwave owens).

Inflation is also increased with raising foreign debt and international trade deficit.

I believe it's trade deficit that's fueling US inflation right now. You want to buy chinese T-shirts cheap but chinese would like to buy something back for their dollars.

Technology usually lowers the cost for certain aspects of product-basket (notably: telecommunnications, computers, TV's etc.) but certain things remain unaffected or change little (food, hairdesser) and certain go up (housing, oil).

If you try to cover the fact that economy is not as good as it was buy priniting more money (it's more covert way of doing it than saying: we screwed up) you'll hgave inflation.

Unfortunately, there are hidden costs of inflation as it's unethical. Savers get punished (their savings get eaten by inflation) and spenders rewarded (their loans are worth less). There is also constant overhead of spending time adjusting the prices as inflation goes on instead of producing the goods.

I believe that war in ME and "foreign debt doesn't matter"-opinion is fueling inflation in US right now.