[fluorescence]

To be fair, the feds have jimmied the calculation of inflation so much that the numbers today are not comparable to the numbers in 1980.

Yep...

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

[KarlInOhio]

That chart is hard to believe. After 25 years of at least 5% understatement of inflation, those "shadow" numbers say total inflation would be over 6x (probably well over because recently the difference is more than 5%) versus 1.87x for the official rate. Our real standard of living is not less than one-third what it was in 1998.

As a single point of comparison, I recently paid about 50% more for a similar car as I did 17 years ago. If those shadow numbers were right the price would have more than tripled.