Just as all politics is local, so is inflation. Which is the problem with an artificial (concocted) metric like CPI.
Spending and prices vary widely from one location to the next, and from one household to another. Which is why we should pick a basket of commodities or PM’s to index to and stick with that, IMO. Less fudge-factor.
Frequent purchase items are definitely up. I remember prices from 1997 pretty well, so I use that as a baseline for my personal inflation index.
1 lb handcut sirloin steak
Then: $1.99
Now: $11.99
16 yr increase: 600%
1 US gallon unleaded gasoline
Then: $1.19
Now: $2.95
Increase: 148%
25 oz. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Then: $1.99
Now: $5.99
Increase: 196%
Rent, 2 BR 800 SF apt
Then: $475
Now: $750
Increase: 58%
Nothing specific, but I did go shopping for an automobile recently, and prices seemed to be roughly double what they were in the mid/late 90’s.
Prices for manufactured items (once or twice a decade purchases) are relatively unchanged. Everything else is up big. I worked for a medical device manufacturer before doing my own thing now back around 2002, and prices for things like coiled-steel and plastic feed stock were going up by double-digits YOY.
Overall, I’d peg actual inflation somewhere in the 7-8% annual range since the Fed went full retard back in 2001. So, by design I think, CPI is underestimating inflation by a factor of at least two. The cognitive dissonance for people on fixed incomes looking at their COLA adjustments must be astounding at this point. People in lower income brackets whose spending is mostly groceries, fuel, and energy bills, have to be seeing real-world inflation close to 10% since 2005.
bttt