U.S. consumer prices were unexpectedly flat last month - Wall Street Journal

Is it just me, or is every bit of economic news lately being prefaced with "unexpectedly"?

Is it just me, or has prediction gotten noticeably harder in the last year or so? Maybe I'm just paying attention more, but you name the prediction from this time last year, from the state of Iraq, to the economy, to the domestic political situation, and not a one of them is even close.

Edit: By the way, I mean the "Is it just me?" as an honest question, not a rhetorical device. Are things really getting harder to predict, or am I finally internalizing something that has always been as true as it is today?