Yes, the government can manipulate CPI. The market is smarter than the government. That's why the market will not accept 4.2% on a 10 year T-Bond if inflation was really 5.7% or whatever number your Eeyore economist pulled out of his ass.
Our federal government may have the motivation to manipulate CPI data, it may even have the opportunity. However, having worked for the federal government and known personally the kind of people we're talking about, I can tell y'all for a fact that it's a big mistake to think that they actually have the mental capacity. Our friends at the INS, the IRS, and other agencies do lots of things; some things that seem reasonable and some things that're truly hard to fathom. The feds will tell you that they did that weird stuff for some complicated reason, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred they lie to hide their screw-ups.
It's a real big mistake to assume our federal employees are always doing some kind of conspiracy-- that's giving my former colleges way too much credit that they simply don't deserve.
Smarter than Which Government? And What market would that be? The same market that is distorted without any corrections whatsoever by the U.S., tilted by the Chinese Communist Government, merrily gaming the vaunted "smart people" in our market system?
Face it, they are successfully Playing our country, the "Main Enemy" for saps. And you are acting like an co-dependant enabler.
Got any Kool-Aid?
