DEFLATION? Consumer prices dip for second straight month. “It marked the biggest decline since consumer prices plunged 0.7 percent in December 2008. That was a period when the worst recession since the 1930s stoked fears of deflation. The country didn’t get stuck in a deflationary spiral then, and probably won’t now, economists say.” Plus this: “Prices for education and prescription drugs each increased 0.3 percent — categories that are up sharply over the past year. Prices for airline fares jumped 1.9 percent last month, while prices for tobacco and other smoking products rose 1.3 percent, the most in nearly a year.”

UPDATE: Reader Paul Jurkoic writes:

I’m sure that whatever happens, it’ll be “unexpected.”

Heh. Indeed.