[Toddsterpatriot]

2. How is the CPI market basket determined? The CPI market basket is developed from detailed expenditure information provided by families and individuals on what they actually bought. There is a time lag between the expenditure survey and its use in the CPI. For example, CPI data in 2016 and 2017 was based on data collected from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys for 2013 and 2014. In each of those years, about 24,000 consumers from around the country provided information each quarter on their spending habits in the interview survey. To collect information on frequently purchased items, such as food and personal care products, another 12,000 consumers in each of these years kept diaries listing everything they bought during a 2-week period.

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm#Question_2

[Sam Gamgee]

My take is the CPI is highly manipulated to underscore real living man’s inflation. And has been manipulated since Johnson. The reason being it affects the net GDP numbers. Want to show high GDP then you need to get that CPI smaller. Vehicles and food are the worst examples of real inflation in my opinion. Bread products, corn products, and fresh produce prices are just nuts.