[Beagle8U]

“our broadest measure of inflation includes all items consumers purchase, including food and energy.”

Yes, they include it, but they give them very little weight if in inflation figures.

Nonessential and luxury items should be removed from the CPI, then you would get a better measure of inflation for the majority of consumers.

[thackney]

but they give them very little weight

They are weighted by average consumer expenditures.

Nonessential and luxury items should be removed from the CPI

The CPI should reflect the average consumers expenditures, not be restricted to the bare essentials.

[kingu]

My armchair candy bar index says that it was sixty cents to buy a candy bar five years ago, it's a dollar ten today. Five years ago I could buy lead for fifty cents a pound, today it's over a buck. A fair used car five years ago was five grand, now it's ten grand. A can of cat food has gone from 35 cents to 70 cents.

I've yet to find any index that indicates that the value of the US dollar has changed this much in five years. Mostly because of the pressures put on CPI indexes to not demonstrate inflation or reduced purchasing power, as so many other things are tied to CPI indexes, such as benefits increases.

Wouldn't such non-essential products as I've listed here be a more true indication of the relative change in value for the US dollar than the CPIs that you are advocating?