Inflation

Electronic Arts has reached preliminary settlement with the consumer protection law firm Hagens Berman, who filed suit against the company for violating antitrust and consumer protection laws in making its popular football video games. The settlement has not been approved by U.S District Court, but if it is confirmed as it stands, a $27 million fund would be set up to pay out purchasers of EA's football games since 2005. According to a press release by Hagens Berman, the suit was originally filed in 2008.

We have been hearing claims by our federal government that there is low to no inflation in this economy. The Federal Reserve continues an "easy money" policy, cranking up the printing presses at the U.S. Mint when the government needs more money to operate than it collects in taxes. And long term interest rates are the lowest in recent history. And deficits are at all time high levels. Yet gasoline and heating oil are up 40 percent since last year (and we can't blame the oil companies for the price of oil products)

Here's a deal few would jump on: A chance to pay $2,000 for a $600 laptop computer, $1,200 for a $400 TV set, and nearly $2,700 for a used washing machine and dryer that only cost $935 when new. It's probably safe to say most people would run the other way as fast as possible if asked to plunk down their hard-earned cash on those terms. Yet there's a booming market for such transactions in Maryland, where so-called "rent-to-own" stores are a $67 million-a-year industry, according to a new Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition report funded by the Abell Foundation.

Robert Tomkies raced yachts in his native New Zealand, with a reputation respectable enough to be hired to work for a fellow named Ted Turner. But as Tomkies' dreams grew, so did his family, until he figured that he had to do something else to take care of his wife and four kids. Tomkies opened a shop in Wellington selling lighting and electrical parts, and bought a small farm off Moonshine Road. Tomkies never got rid of the racing bug, designed and built a 30-foot yacht he named the "Moonshine Express" and tried to pass his passion for fast boats and the open sea on to his brood.

This shouldn't surprise you. The holiday shopping season was not gangbusters after all. With 13 million unemployed Americans and millions more working part-time or otherwise underemployed, the country has not returned to the mall in full force. It's not 2006 again, and it's certainly not 1999. The economic rebuilding from the 2008 financial crash is far from over. Consumers focused as much on saving in December as on spending, a Commerce Department report released Monday showed.

Not surprising to any parent receiving a tuition bill, but the College Board reports that the cost of college continues to dramatically increase. Worse, funding from cash-strapped states haven't kept up with growing enrollments. According to the College Board, an advocacy group promoting higher education,  in-state tuition, fees and room and board at public four-year schools averaged $17,131 for the current academic year, up 6 percent for the year before. Out-of-state total costs at public institutions rose 5.2 percent to $29,657.

Regarding the restriction of political activity at Honfest: Is Denise Whiting's ego so inflated that she thinks her seeming endorsement of a candidate would sway an election? I wonder what William Donald Schaefer's response would have been to such a ban. Stephanie Charles

Former Washington schools chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, known for her crusade to use standardized test scores to help evaluate teachers, is facing renewed scrutiny over her depiction of progress that her students made years ago when she was a schoolteacher. A former D.C. math teacher, Guy Brandenburg, posted on his blog a study that includes test scores from the Baltimore school where Rhee taught from 1992 to 1995. The post, dated Jan. 31, generated intense discussion in education circles this week.

A flood in India, Chinese garlic speculators, a growing global economy, ethanol subsidies in Iowa and a dozen other factors are making your Lawry's Seasoned Salt more expensive. And that's not all. Rising prices for food and other commodities have people talking about a resurgence of consumer-price inflation, which has been all but dead for years. On Monday, West Texas crude hit $92 a barrel, its highest price since 2008. The price of milk rose 5 percent last year, according to the Labor Department.

Low inflation is a welcome economic sign for spenders, but for savers, it can be too much of a good thing. The effect of super low inflation could be seen in recent days when the government announced changes to savings bond rates and retirement account limits that are pegged to inflation. Savers can now expect meager returns on the inflation-protected Series I Savings Bonds, if they even still want to buy them. And employees won't be able to sock away more next year in a 401(k)