It's not just the government who claim there is low inflation. The vast majority of economists and researchers who study inflation believes it is low as well.

What do you think could be driving the acceleration of inflation you mention? The mainstream story is inflation is driven by wage gains when the economy starts to overheat. This increase in wages is then passed onto the consumer, who to afford the increased prices asks for a wage increase and the cycle continues. I don't know think there is currently a general overabundance of jobs in the U.S. economy driving large wage increases.