Charliehall,
No one is denying that by CPI standards there has been no unusual inflation. However, no one is admitting that CPI is an effective way to measure inflation. Im not going to bother listing criticisms of CPI as a measure of inflation because you can find them easily yourself. But its not in the slightest bit relevant to the point I made here.
The inflation has been caused by endless printing of new money and open market operations. When that didnt accomplish its goal, they moved on to printing money and quantitative easing. All of that money ended up in the hands of those who needed it the least, and no trickle down has occurred to date. Nor will it ever. So no surprise that the basket of goods hasnt increased by a shocking amount, since the new money was not distributed into the hands of those who would use it to compete for goods. The rich (corporations) got richer while the average person stayed the same. This is not your 1970s style inflation although it seemed like it at first.
The inflation has occurred in the stock markets and in the treasuries of companies with large investable assets. All that extra printed money is sitting in “surplus” accounts and is not being spent. It is propping up company valuations and share prices. What remains to be seen is what will happen after they pulled the plug on QE. Maybe it will even register on your sacred CPI at some point.