Inflation Information

I heard an inflation expert talk, and this is basically what he said: They changed how inflation is counted today, but if you used 1970's standards, our inflation rate in 2007 was 11%, which is as high as it ever was in the 70's under Carter. Also, the majority of our financial issues today are caused by inflation (at which time he railed on the Federal Reserve for lowering rates and causing this inflation). The main example that he used was this: in 2001 oil was approx. $29/barrel, today it is $120. This is over a 300% increase. The price of oil/barrel in Europe has increased 107% in that same time, meaning that if our dollar was as stable as the Euro (which has also inflated some), oil would be around $65/barrel, and we would have under $2/gallon gasoline. He also stated that if we would stabalize the dollar, oil prices would remain fairly constant, and that OPEC and Middle Easter Crisis have had FAR less influence on the price of oil/gas than the Federal Reserve has had. I am not trying to add info to the conspirists out there, but this was one experts opinion I found interesting.