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In the real world, the cannery would close the current facility or modernize in place or switch to alternative packaging. For some reason it remains stuck with 20th Century technology and attempts to disguise the obvious cost imbalance with flimsy chicanery.

You still haven't given a source for this tuna-can thing.

Even if/when you do, what it will prove about the economy at large is beyond me.

Yes, there is fraud, and stuff that falls short of fraud but is an attempt to cut corners, etc. But when has that not been true? I'm not aware of evidence that it's somehow on the increase in any significant way to the point where we need to adjust inflation statistics as a result.

And you haven't given any such evidence.

Government measurement techniques have been criticized since the 1960's with their use of non typical "typical" grocery baskets of items people use occasionally or limited to certain populations.

I am aware of that. Indeed, I have my doubts as to whether the government "basket" represents anything meaningful. Nevertheless, to dispute this figure of 0.8% would require actual arguments and data, facts and figures. Not hunches and opinions.

The tuna can thing-real legwork involved there. Go to a store, any store, buy a can of tuna, any brand. You will almost certainly find it half filled with oil or water as opposed to the beforetimes when tuna cans were packed to the brim with tuna.

You can not have it both ways.

You can not discount anecdotal examples no matter how numerous in favor of official government data no matter how flawed and say the government approach is somehow rational, scientific and correct.

Inflation is built into the very structure of the non market based economy erected by that Supreme Bolshevik, FDR.

We the People, have been conditioned to accept the terms of debate given to us by They, the Bureaucrats, from on high and now we,the people, are further conditioned to accept outright lies given us by they, the bureaucrats.

It may not be possible to find the statistics and fact based arguments you seek in what is fundamentally an irrational intellectual construct (the modern economy).

Even the mighty Alan Greenspan himself recently seemed to suggest (it is hard to tell beneath the mumbo jumbo) that the invisible hand of the Federal Reserve is no better and possibly even worse than the invisible hand of a hard currency economy.

Make of that what you will.

Best regards,