You are correct, M2 growth rate definitely decreased; M2 now is only about 4% higher than a year ago. Used to grow at 10%+ in 02.
I don't think Brinker is serious or honest when he says "inflation is under control" and "rising oil prices are deflationary", unless he really thinks that "inflation" = CPI. The latter would be naive, to put it gently.
BTW, was thinking about lowry's-smowry's views - the guy makes so much sense, that it's hard to be too optimistic. Still I'll probably try to chase this rally (maybe the last one this year) (g).