“Prices are dropping fast,” the president said. The latest inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wasn’t horrible, but the figures do not show that consumer prices are “dropping fast.” The consumer price index showed prices rose 0.1% in July, though the annual rate inched lower to 3.4% from a year earlier. If we exclude food and energy and look at what’s known as core CPI, prices rose 0.2% last month. In fact, they’re entirely in line with expectations headed into the release of the latest statistics.