I graduated with a degree with a crappy grade (we wont go into why ;-) ) from the UK.
The grades for my class were a bell curve around a C (in Britain, about 60%).

I happened to be in LA and went to UCLA to look into getting a higher degree.
They took one look at my grades and managed to politely stifle their sniggers.
I saw the results for their last graduating class though - a nice bell curve centred on a B+ (around 80%).

Bear in mind too, that 2 American students who came over for their final year to my class were way behind the rest of us in terms of knowledge, even though they had been selected from the top of their US class, and had already completed three years as opposed to our two.
They were extremely dissapointed with their final grades (a C and a B) because they knew that this would mark them well below average when back in the US.

You've had grade inflation for years. Maybe its getting worse, but it aint a new phenomenon.

cheers,
tony