Its a bit like unemployment is actually near 16% using the older methods?
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Using the damage to the pocketbook method, after buying gas, groceries, paying for insurance, tires, airline tickets and so on, inflation is way over 10 percent. The real misery index is about as high as it has ever been.
Ping! Over here....
America is finished. It will never come back.
You can substitute chicken for steak. Literally, that is what the Feds presume now when looking at inflation.
Plus, “hedonics effects” presume you love the quality of the air so much, that the crappy ethanol you put into your pump for more money actually REDUCES the cost of living.
When the price of housing goes down, the Fed assumes a reduction in the CPI. That’s because “Owners Equivalent Rent” is based on recent selling prices, NOT WHAT YOU ACTUALLY SPENT on your house.
So, your net worth is in the toilet, you’ve lost your shorts on your housing investment, don’t have the money to spend on anything else, and as a result Voila! The Fed tells you prices have declined.
Neat trick, but totally not of this world. Your mortgage payment didn’t change, but the Fed presumes it went down.
Just the cost of fuel the average family has seen 10% of their family income spent on higher fuel costs in the past year.
The Gateway I'm using cost the same as the Atari I bought 30 years ago, so do we figure prices by bucks per box or bucks per bits?
This may or may not be the complaint we're getting from "The Shadow", but even if it is there's more to it then quality (BLS faq here). We also substitute by fashion (Nehru jackets aren't considered anymore), by availability (buying strawberries when blueberries are out of season), by location (California oranges when Florida frosts) and so forth.
Anyone can make up a 'secret shadow' number and say it's true. If it means higher taxes then they get on CNBC.
If only someone had used the older measure and published the results.