Inflation

When the truth doesn't support your cause, distort the truth. That's what BLS did by changing how inflation is calculated.

When the truth doesn't support your cause, distort the truth. That's what the BLS did by changing how inflation is calculated. We used to just peg Cost of Living to what it took to buy the average amount of goods and services, and then track that year over year. Then BLS started adjusting and using fudge factors, so things don't look as bad as they are.

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~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2022-06-12

If the fed didn't cook the books on CPI (Inflation rates) and we measured like we did under Jimmy Earl Carter I instead of how we do under Jimmy Biden Carter -- inflation would be at 17% -- the greatest since Jimmy FDR Carter.

CPI used to measure cost of living (purchasing power) against a fixed basket of essentials; food, housing, clothing, etc. (Cost of Living Index). This has some problems in that if you become wealthier, your goods choices change (the filet instead of the burger, etc).

So in the 1990's they tweaked CPI. The BLS started weighting goods based on their imaginations as to what you could substitute it for, or just throwing out things they imagine you don't need (like new clothes).

Since the quality of many things is improving (like a car requires less maintenance today than 40 years ago), they factor that out of the CPI. Some of the tricks include if a computer is 25% this year, and the price is the same, they claim a 25% drop in cost. Since textbooks today have color pictures (and more of them) than in the past, they consider them worth more and adjust the price of books based on what a book of this quality would have cost in the 70s.

Of course they only do it on some goods and one way. Imagine in travel value that today's TSI and lower quality of air services (lower food, more fees, less customer and more cattle oriented) dropped the value of a place ticket today? The CPI is like the IRS, it's not about fair, it's about what can they get from you.

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Economics
The study of choice, scarcity, Social reactions to policies, and unseen consequences.

Bidenflation
Bidenomics drove up costs of energy, labor, shipping, and borrowing, while deflating money value, resulting in inflation.

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Tags: Economics Joe Biden/Bidenflation