The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that the Consumer Price Index has increased by 4.0 percent since February 2007. Energy prices are up by 18.9 percent and food prices by 4.6 percent. And according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, Americans are feeling the squeeze. When asked whether prices over the past five years had been going up “a lot,” “a little,” or “not much at all,” a striking 79 percent of people said they had been going up a lot, compared to only 17 percent who said they had been going up a little and just 3 percent who said they had not been going up much at all. Fifty-eight percent said their family’s income was “falling behind” the cost of living, up from 44 percent who said so in September 2007. Just 6 percent in the latest poll said their family’s income was rising faster than the cost of living. Source: Pew Research Center, January-February, 2008.