Yeah, inflation confuses me as well, as it is a heady topic. Sweeps has done a better job explaining it than I can, but all that I will add is that a well-regulated inflation is actually healthy for our overall economy. Hyper-inflation and deflation is bad.
Please also keep in mind that inflation affects things across the board. Generally speaking. What I mean is, even though something may cost double the amount in the future as it does now, our annual income for the same job that we do now should also have doubled in the future as well, due to said inflation. Investments should have a similar effect.
I know it's a gross over-simplification, but the point is that people often times become too fixated on a fixed number. In this case, it's the number 1,000,000. In fact, what we should focus on is to increase our buying power.
And if I may ramble on some more, buying power isn't something that we have to wait for the Fed boards to make a decision. No, by simply increasing our earnings and spending less, we can enhance our buying power, how ever small that may be.
In a sense, buying power is also similar to "value" when we shop around. It's not the exact dollar amount that matters. It's how much it's worth to us versus how much they want for it.
The price of technology has to do with the blistering pace at which it advances. Personally, I don't think that's a bad thing at all because... I like technology and it makes it more affordable to me.
However, advancements in technology doesn't directly correlate to inflation. Not directly.
Different countries have different "buying power" if you will. In places where the standard of living is low, you can pay them "less" than you can pay them more here. Believe it or not, while offshoring jobs may be a bad thing for the average folks wanting jobs, it's actually good for our overall economies as it keeps the cost down. Indirectly, this cost-saving may be passed down to the consumer in a competitive market. This, in turn, COULD increase our own consumer buying power.
I'm not saying I'm a political proponent of offshoring or anything, but just making an observation in our global economy.
I'm just rambling, and I'm not even sure of half of that made any sense, so please take it for what it's worth.