The 35 year drought in real wages for American workers

``Inflation is insidious because it plays tricks on your financial mind.  Say you get a 2 percent raise.  You feel great about this.  But say the overall inflation rate is up by 3 percent.  In reality, you are now behind the curve by 1 percent.  Compound this over the years and you see how the middle class can fall behind.  And that is actually what has happened. ''