Keep in mind "7.5%" is the aggregate across the entire basket. This isn't how individual people perceive inflation. What actually happens is that a few things

Keep in mind "7.5%" is the aggregate across the entire basket. This isn't how individual people perceive inflation. What actually happens is that a few things make big jumps (10-15%) and the prices of other things don't increase as quickly. Maybe not the nicest thing to say, but I'm hardly affected by inflation at all. The four biggest categories to experience inflation recently have been used cars, petroleum, rents, and food. As an urban-dwelling homeowner who doesn't drive much, doesn't rent, and isn't in the market for a car, the only real change has been food, and it's a small enough part of my goods basket that the extra $15-20/week at the grocery store barely registers. The people really hurting today are the truck-driving renters sucking down 20+ gallons of gas/week driving long distances to their jobs. Those guys are feeling a lot of pain.