The Saint Louis Federal Reserve Bank had a blog post on the regional variations in consumer price index for urban residents (CPI-U) numbers.  All regions except the Western United States already have falling prices from a year ago.  When you break out the components of the CPI-U energy and shelter are the main contributors to price increases in the West.  So if you take out the chronic lack of housing on the Coast, which drives up prices (not to mention the buyers from China arriving with cash to buy properties), and take out the increases in energy prices (regulatory driven since the prices for energy are falling in all other regions?), you’ve got falling prices nationally.  And the Fed wants to raise interest rates?!