High prices for gas, milk push struggling families to brink Last month, the Consumer Price Index, the government's most closely watched inflation barometer, posted its largest increase in more than three years, the Labor Department said. The main culprits were gasoline--which has dipped in recent days but still remains about 30 percent higher than a year ago--and galloping food costs, especially dairy products, which jumped at the most rapid pace since World War II. Chicago Tribune