No. It's similar, but not exactly the same. The US passports use ISO 14443 tags, which operate in the 13 MHz band and have the capability to perform various cryptographic computations. The US passports do use encryption to partially protect their contents.

The RFID technology in the "5-cent Walmart" tags typically used for inventory management is pretty different. Those cheap tags operate in the 915 MHz band, and they can't do any encryption: all they do is store a 96-bit unique ID, and will gladly tell anyone who asks what their ID is.

Nonetheless, the US e-passports effort has not been well-thought-out. I don't think the State Department really understood what they were getting into, and the system they will be using has some known security problems. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it "braindead", but it's not exactly a shining example of privacy and security done right.

For what it's worth, I recently renewed my passport early, just so I wouldn't stuck with one of the new RFID-enabled e-passports. Hopefully I won't have to worry about RFID for another 10 years; I'm just as happy to let someone else be the State Dept's guinea pigs.