What hurts the average San Diegan more, spending 1-2k more a year on gas/food or losing 100k in home equity?

What hurts the average investor more ? Making a few hundred K on stocks from 2003 to 2007 or paying 1-2K more a year on gas/food ?

Which gets us back to my original beef. Pricing relative to commodities distorts reality. While I agree in principle that commodities reflect monetary inflation, they exaggerate the magnitude of the change because of speculation, and thus are a poor barometer.