Inflation in the real world

[nadinbrzezinski]

well we know how they tell us that inflation is what four percent per year?

Ok I just went to get food for lunch

Let me list it

Meat, cheap cut, for two people 2.15
Two bottles of salsa 6 bucks
One bag of chips to make chilaquiles with 5 bucks

The extra that I bought for other reasons

dip 5 bucks
Iced tea 7 bucks

Ok, here is the total

25.15

I used to be able to get this for less than ten

Oh and not six years ago, but six months ago.

So next time a talking head tells me there is no inflation I will gladly say... BULLSHIT

And if any of you think this will not affect the elections... I have news for them talking heads... every time I go to get food, I go... they are lying and lying hard

Oh and yes, one article recently covered this... but for the most part the media IS SILENT about this.

[Selatius]

1. Yes, I read the article about double digit inflation with food costs.

I don't really follow government reporting at face value anymore. The only saving grace is that the reports often include foot notes about the methodology they use, the methodology they use to "massage" the numbers.

This is the site I use to work through the crap in the reports:

http://www.shadowstats.com/cgi-bin/sgs



As you can see, the pre-Clinton methodology lists inflation as much higher than the current methodology used to measure inflation. Others listed include the official CPI numbers and the new, experimental C-CPI-U, which will probably replace the current CPI methodology, just another way to shave a little more off the inflation numbers.

However, if we calculated the CPI according to the methodology used in 1980 before Reagan arrived, we get a number closer to 10 percent inflation:



You tell me: Which one is "more real" to the average person on the street?

You can find the alternate data series by clicking on the box "Alternate Data Sources" on the top right.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. We both know the answer

And this will come back to byte them in the rear

I know that at this point I will NOT vote for any profesional liar, which means a republican mostly

But if the dems play along I will have to consider that too

Hell, I know how much my food budget has gone to hell and a hand basket

Hell, now I have to think about silly things like perhaps catching a movie, HARD

Or buying any of my hobby material

[Selatius]

3. That's the genius thing about what they did with the CPI in the 1990s

They used to measure the CPI by measuring a broad "basket" of fixed goods, but then they implemented substitution, which basically says if steak meat got too expensive, then to calculate the CPI, you substitute in hamburger meat. If that got too expensive, then you can substitute in lettuce or dog food or chinese poison or whatever other crap they stick in the answer box. Now, you're no longer measuring the cost of living relative to prices. You're measuring the cost of survival instead.

I may be fine with the arrangement if they were forthright with the changes made to the CPI, but they didn't really make a big fuss over it. They simply changed it and then reported the numbers every time new figures get published like nothing changed, so it's generating an irrationally optimistic view of inflation in terms of the cost of living, as opposed to the cost of survival. If they called it the cost of survival, I might accept it, but they don't.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. And they also use those numbers for COLA

adjustments, which means COLA is well behind the real cost.

Example, my husband's COLA was a whole 70 bucks every two weeks... which means we are still loosiing ground