Reply #1: Not sure I agree that there is true deflation

[customerserviceguy]

The only thing that's really happened over the last six months is that the price of a vital commodity, petroleum, has gone down by about 75%. We've seen oil prices rise and fall before without economists using the word 'deflation', the only difference here is that the speculation bubble burst as quickly or perhaps more quickly than it inflated. To the extent that energy prices are reflected in the prices of 99% of the things we buy, that sudden a cut in fueling prices will certainly show up in reduced prices for finished goods.

That's not necessarily deflation, just things correcting back to normal, or sub-normal since the bubble had such devastating effects on the world economy. Jobs will come back, but every nation's economy still has to recover from the shock of $147 a barrel oil.

We'll know in about six months if the "D" word should be used. My guess is that it won't need to be.