It's pretty hard for Croesus to believe that the rate of inflation is only 3.4%, given the sharp rise in the price of food, gasoline and other sundry daily necessities.

Kimberly Stevens, a 42-year-old resident of Lewisville, Texas, and a Croesus follower, is also refusing to buy into the official Washington line that the nation's inflation rate is only 3.4%. This outraged reader says, "As far as I am concerned, Bernanke, President Bush, Clinton, Obama and the rest of them live in a fairy-tale world. They do not go shopping each week and have no idea what the cost of goods is."

Stevens, a $90,000-a-year e-commerce solutions architect has been peppering Croesus with the real facts of life. A gallon of the Horizon organic milk she buys for her two boys has soared from $1.99 to over $5, an increase of 250%. In the past year, a loaf of bread has surged nearly 50%--to $2.29 from $1.59. Her Kraft cheddar cheese has gone from $1.99 to $2.50 for an eight-ounce package--a 25% rise. A dozen extra large eggs are up from 79 cents to $1.19, or about 50% , while ground beef, Stevens insists, is up more than 60%, from $1.79 a pound to $2.99.

http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/04/11/croesus-chronicles-inflation-o... [1]