Is Secular Inflation Likely in the U.S.?

A few years ago there was much talk in the financial press, in business periodicals, in popular magazines about the prospect of long-run secular inflation. Much of this talk died in the United States during the early 1960's. It was replaced by talk of lagging growth rates as the rate of price increase slowed or stopped, depending upon the index chosen to measure inflation. Now that prices have risen again, a few voices have raised the old secular inflation question. Is the long-run prospect for the United States a gradual steady increase in the broad-based measures of prices? Are we likely to experience secular inflation in the U. S.?