Well, when you take out certain commodities, notably oil and products that heavily depend on it, then inflation does indeed look low.  So, monetary inflation is low.  Another way to prove this is to look at all the other currencies of the world, and look at how much the prices of commodities have gone up in relation to their currencies.  You will find that the price of these commodities have gone up in all currencies and countries.  The price spikes are most likely due to supply, demand, and speculation on future supply and demand.  Similar to the oil shocks we've had before.