The Emperor's New Dollar (at Forbes.com)

Rich Karlgaard 08.11.08 At a campground breakfast last month I grabbed a little box of Raisin Bran cereal. I opened the box and popped the waxed paper, which let out a mighty whoosh of air I felt in the eyeballs. I tore the wax paper and discovered the source of the whoosh: The box was mostly filled with air. I imagined some bran flakes hiding in the bottom. To test this theory, I poured the contents into a bowl. Indeed, there was some Raisin Bran in there--about 20 flakes. I fetched two more boxes and emptied the flakes and raisins into the bowl. It took three boxes to make a halfway decent bowl of cereal. The shrinking contents of a cereal box show inflation for what it is: theft. This, oddly enough, grates more than the $4.79 per gallon of 89-octane gas that I pump into my little Lexus crossover. Sure, I may feel extorted... [read full story]