In particular, in periods when energy prices and hence utility costs are rising, as in the first half of 2003, the BLS procedure may overstate the deceleration in rents net of utilities and hence in owners' equivalent rent. As a result, on this particular count, the slowdown in CPI inflation may have been slightly overstated in the first half of 2003.
I am absolutely fascinated by the scientific and technological progress we are presently experiencing. I sometimes have the feeling that I am myself in a science fiction novel, because of the new marvels that technology displays every other year. You see new possibilities, but at the same it creates challenges. When you make jumps in science and technology, it transforms society.