There is pretty much universal acceptance (in the financial world at least) that the RPI index will be negative when it's figures are next declared (on 24th March if you really want to know). The last time this happened was way back, over 70 years ago. I'm no expert on this but if RPI is negative doesn't it mean your money should go further for some things?
yeah, deflation is negative price growth. :) doesn't mean that everything is falling (house prices are having a major effect, while stuff like food etc. is possibly rising, a lot!), and there are a couple of different methods of determining inflation (depends on what goods and services are being used to determine that inflation, basically), but, er, yeah. looking at all the sales in shops, how few people out shopping actually have bags full of stuff etc. etc. etc. i wouldn't be surprised if there were some deflation. raising prices could actually make that worse (as fewer people will be able to afford to buy).
:)
