Inflation Watch:

The Old Farmer wrote: “I’ve been buying a Whopper Jr. and a small bag of French fries from the Dollar Menu at Burger King for about two years now on my way home from an extra-long shift that I do off farm. It’s been $2.12 for so long I kept dimes and pennies in my change holder. This week the dollar menu was gone. The same meal was now $2.43. That’s a ‘whopping’ increase, without getting out the calculator, that is about 15 percent.”

Tony on Colorado mentioned: “You may be interested in taking a look at the web site Consumerist.com. They have items that they have termed ‘grocery shrink ray’ to describe the diminishing consumer product package sizes.”

Keith O. suggested an article with a bad portent for mass inflation: What Happens When China Stops Playing the Music?