I can report that, after ten years, it is indeed the case that consumer price inflation, on any measure, has a 2 before the decimal place.
Generally, economists think optimal allocative efficiency is achieved by removing barriers to competition in markets – be they tariffs, subsidies, protectionist devices, unnecessary regulation – and allowing relative prices to allocate productive resources. For most products, competitive markets will deliver the greatest choice at the lowest price to informed consumers. Granted, there are various exceptions to the generalisation above.