"It's hard to imagine two things more 'core' than food and energy."

Change in various prices, 2002-2008 (according to 13D Research):
Bread +250%
Cooking oil +250%
Flour +500%
Butter +250%
Eggs +350%
Potatoes +400%
Bananas +300%
Apples +300%
Fish +200%
Poultry +300%
Meat +200%
Milk +200%

It becomes increasingly difficult to make the argument that these things are volatile and thus must be excluded from the inflation basket. It’s apparent that food and energy have risen steadily in price for the better part of the past two decades. Shadow Government Statistics illustrates this nicely. Click the title for the link.