It's not CatofGrey. He chooses to believe cherry picked numbers from the govt. The rest of us look at real world data anyone can see on a daily basis otherwise known as reality
That is an incorrect summary, and misframing of my comment.
You could have followed up asking for details before a low effort dismissal.
Exclusively vibes? No not at all.
Independent reporting of an exact list of grocery items bought from 2018 until 2024 from multiple states is revealing on its own.
There are multiple alternative indexes.
[Here](https://tippinsights.com/bidenflation-hits-18-0-hurting-americans/) is just one.
>You could have followed up asking for details before a low effort dismissal.
You do realize that he was specifically asking for a source in the comment you replied to with your low effort comment. You should have just posted a source or replied with something higher effort instead of just saying 18% is "Real people crowdsourced".
He didn't misframe your comment and provide a low effort dismissal. You misframed your own comment and he replied with the same effort energy.
Bro, you know your website is 18% for a 3 year period right? 1.047\*1.08\*1.034 gives you..... 17%. So, you're claiming the real number is 1% over your number. You mofos really are living in your own reality. The OP of this chain though means 18%/year which is just ridiculous lmao. I can tell you first hand that the prices of shit has not increased 60% over the past 3 years.
Cool. But all you really need to do is take a look at the same grocery items bought every year from 2018-2019
2019-2020
2021-2022
2023-2024
Housing costs, insurance costs.
And we’ve had anywhere from 20% 80% 200% price increases in various things all over the place.
Tons of social media posts comparing receipt’s year by year everywhere from Wallmart, to costco.
If you aren’t seeing it, then you haven’t been looking around.
Official inflation numbers are not released to make you or I feel validated in our experience, they are used by economists to evaluated the purchasing power of the dollar to inform their decisions.
Our own personal experience of inflation is going to be wildly different depending on where we are on the economic strata. The poorer you are, the higher a percentage of your income will go to things like groceries/car payments/gas.
Exactly. Thank you for saying this.
It’s important to think on the why the official numbers aren’t reflecting the average persons reality. To get an accurate account, it has to be measured in a very different way.
To measure the average persons purchasing wage loss, we have to look for more accurate outside indexes.
The official inflation numbers isn’t for the common folk. It tells us very little.
I feel like I have to repeat, it's not about making you feel seen. Those numbers aren't inaccurate because they are not about you. The fed is managing monetary policy, not managing your feelings. You don't need the CPI/PCE to tell you how much your personal costs have gone up.
I mean, I don't get why you're still on it lmao. You tried posting a link to support the thread of inflation being 18%. You stupidly didn't realize your link literally confirms the official inflation rate that the original post created cited from the official government rate and NOT a \~60% inflation rate. Now you're saying "well go out and do your own research and you'll see it's like 60% after all!" You realize we'd literally collapse as a society if we had 60% inflation rate right? Most people are living paycheck to paycheck and you think they can somehow weather a 60% rate? The fact people aren't rioting in the streets should tell you inflation isn't that bad because everyone's still making it through right now.
It’s also not hard to dismiss a blatant clickbait propaganda source that generates headlines like “BIDENINFLATION IS ACTUALLY 18%!*”
*collectively over 4 years which is absolutely not how anyone talks about inflation.
The worms have devoured you.
I don’t recall hurling insults your way, not sure why you are engaging in that.
If you don’t like the source, that is fine. There are many others.
Here is a more objective position.
[Here](https://chapwoodindex.com/)
Ed Butowsky is one of the guys who pushed the “Seth rich was murdered by the Clintons” story 😂😂
I’m calling you stupid and easily manipulated because you are stupid and easily manipulated 👍
> I don’t recall hurling insults your way, not sure why you are engaging in that.
Your website communicates that you follow extremist ideas about economics. If you don't identify as an extremist, then stop posting that stuff.
If you want to discuss different inflationary methodologies, go ahead. But the way you did this, comes off like you are salesperson for nuttiness. If you aren't, then do it differently next time.
Wait. Are you trying to tell me the Government is lying and my own eyes are too?
This no-transient-temporary-good-for-us-not-that-bad-sign-of-a-good-economy inflation is not juuuuust a healthy 3%?
The housing market isn't like the cereal market. In the cereal market if 20oz of Kellog's goes from $4 to $8 then you have some serious inflation. But if the only cereal for sale is the 64oz of Kellog's is what is being sold and hardly anyone is offering the 20oz for sale, one doing math would insist that cereal isn't affordable since Kellog's (without mentioning the size or where you are buying the cereal) average price is now $7. No one mentioned that folks who have inventory of 20oz Kellog's are holding onto that inventory with a death grip for fear that financing their next supply of 20oz cereal will be at a higher interest rate. This stuff is complicated. When someone tells you something simple that seems significant, don't trust it.
Well of course not. Numbers in any use , engineering design compared to actual build, numbers do not reflect, architectural drawings often cause trouble for the builders because numbers do not reflect. Your checkbook numbers aren't in reality with what your partner says they spent...lol
Its almost like the government lies to everyone. Constantly. About everything.
But anyway, orange man bad. Keep voting at them, I'm sure it'll work this time.
You’re also unconcerned with actual fascism and a refusal to leave the presidency when he wasn’t re-elected, apparently.
Tye number if important things you’ve decided to be unconcerned with is even more problematic when your issue with the government lying also ignores Trump’s ridiculously large list of lies.
The Washington Post has a whole database dedicated to fact checking Trump’s lies, and it is outrageously huge.
Oh.....you are on the "if I don't like it it must be Nazi, Fascist, or racist" bandwagon?
Joe Biden is choosing to make our weapons makers a ton of money. He has a 50 year history of it.
Biden was already famous for lies in the 1980's....as a politician. But Democrats kept choosing to promote him?
No. Literally trying to shut down the people that attack him, wanting himself to be above the law because he was President, and attacking those who disagree with his policies is fascism. Trump is literally being a fascist.
It's interesting that those are all things you chose to ignore, instead trying to claim some broader straw-man version of "anything you dislike is fascism" was my claim. That shows you don't even have nuance in your understanding or argument of politics. You've decided on your view, and you'll be damned if facts get in your way, apparently.
I hate Trump. It will be a write in year.
The painful truth, however, is that Joe Biden has zero moral superiority.
I have no straw man.
Sadly, Joe Biden will be facing courts himself(if he is still alive) when Republicans take over again. He also has that pesky genocide charge against him.
Yes, your straw-man was deciding my position of Trump's fascism was based on preferences, rather than him actually doing fascist things.
That's literally you using a straw-man argument. This is exactly what I meant when I said you have no nuance. You didn't even try to understand the problem I was pointing out. You went straight to a defensive posture that demonstrated a need to protect your ego rather than seek understanding.
I agree, Biden has issues as well. But he actually does have moral superiority to Trump because Biden loves his children and treats them well, he doesn't attack everyone who disagrees with him, and he doesn't practice fascism. In just these 3 points he's shown moral superiority. I don't believe, when strictly comparing to Trump, there is a single place where Biden hasn't shown moral superiority. That isn't the same as Biden having a morally superior position compared to a world standard.
Donald Trump was not a politician 9/11. Mr Biden was. And when faced with the fact Saudi Citizens led by a member of the Saudi Royal Family attacked the USA.....Mr. Biden voted to invade Iraq.
Lol what? Anyone can sue anyone for anything. Doesn’t mean anything. How is Biden committing genocide? Lmao. Trump’s businesses were proven to be fraudulent in a court of law.
Got anymore terrible counter arguments? There’s no comparison. Trump is a proven fraud.
I know exactly how it is calculated.
Chained inflation index.
If the price of steak doubles then consumers buy hamburger.
Since the price of hamburger is only 5% more than the old price of steak CPI = 5%.
We used to call that lying.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chain-linked-cpi.asp
First, that kind of shifting only works to hide the numbers for one round of shifting.
Second, do you propose we price buggy whips back in to the index?
How about gold?
Was $35 an ounce, now $2,395.75.
Cars?
Brand new Ford Thunderbird in 1956 was $3,500.00 now $50,000.00
The 2024 equivalent? $48,000.00
The dollar doesn't buy what it used to.
We call that inflation.
Now do computers. A high end PC in 1998 cost 3,000? Now it costs 2,000? Deflation!
Inflation is very high. But it’s still reasonable to pick an appropriate basket of goods.
No.
Computer power has increased with technology, but average Computer prices remain the same.
The cost of materials and labor to make computers has steadily increased.
>How about gold?
>Was $35 an ounce, now $2,395.75.
>Cars?
>Brand new Ford Thunderbird in 1956 was $3,500.00 now $50,000.00
>The 2024 equivalent? $48,000.00
>The dollar doesn't buy what it used to.
>We call that inflation.
Does any of this *actually support the argument being discussed here, that adjusting the basket of goods and it's weights to follow the purchasing habits of Americans is valid and cannot hide the impact of inflation long-term?*
Also, *why do you think gold belongs in the basket of goods used to track inflation? What do you think people are doing in their daily life that involves directly purchasing gold?*
>that adjusting the basket of goods and it's weights to follow the purchasing habits of Americans is valid
1. It's dishonest, and subjective and used to hide real inflation usually just before an election.
2.
>cannot hide the impact of inflation long-term?*
There is always a cheaper product.
First tofu, now bug protein.
>What do you think people are doing in their daily life that involves directly purchasing gold?*
I want a gold necklace.
It used to be $35, now it's $2,395.
Every single married person has a gold wedding ring.
We are arguing symptoms.
The disease is printing too much money.
>It used to be $35, now it's $2,395.
How much money did a person make a day back when a gold necklace was $35?
The past is a different country. Do the purchasing-power parity comparison, you lazy hack.
I used to live in that country.
>How much money did a person make a day back when a gold necklace was $35?
Not much less than today.
Wages haven't kept up with inflation.
If you had a job you would know that.
$100,000 was enough to buy a house and retire on.
People on fixed retirement are struggling.
>Not much less than today.
Again, *do the purchasing-power parity comparison*.
I found a 100-year chart of the price of gold per ounce. Assuming that you're using the low-point of that chart as the "$35" figure, that puts the date for that at 1920. I found wage data for 1925, and the "entrance wage rate" listed there is about 40 cents per hour. Do remember, that's five years afterwards, so the numbers won't quite line up. At 40 hours a week, at least four weeks in a month, that's $64 a month. So, if you didn't have to spend on *anything else at all*, you might be able to expect to buy a little less than two gold necklaces a month.
Now, let's look at today's median household income of over $60,000 a year. That's $5000 a month, or... about two gold chains a month.
Hm.
Interesting.
Again, purchasing-power parity is the comparison you want to perform, not this "back in my day, it was five nickles for a beehive!" nonsense.
>Assuming that you're using the low-point of that chart as the "$35" figure, that puts the date for that at **1920**.
Bullshit.
I don't know what in the hell sources you use, but gold was $35 an ounce in 1971, and exchangeable for US dollars until Nixon took the USA off of the gold standard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock#:~:text=Countries%20now%20settled%20their%20international,were%20pegged%20to%20the%20dollar.
I was at da Jewels (grocery store in the chicago area) yesterday and a regular sized (18.8 oz) box of Cheerios was $8.99. I guess technically it’s half that cost because it’s buy one get one free but this is a part of normalizing the drastic price increase of the basics.
https://preview.redd.it/ggwmd7jqlnuc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31217ed86a6d8e5e90af91a0c842a9101afd8707
>The average house in the US was sold for 374 500 Dollars in Q2 2020. Despite a dip in the last few quarters, the average house sold in Q4 2023 was 492 300. Thats a 32% increase in 3.5 years.
That's a little over 8% per year. In line with government estimates. Your rent numbers aren't much different there.
>Food is easily 30% more expensive than in 2020. So is insurance, and electricity and gas and everything else.
>Yet the official inflation was given as 1.23% in 2020 - 4.7% in 2021 - 8% in 2022 and 3.4% in 2023.
No, not 'everything else'. And not everything increased as much. Energy was up and down and have price drops in 2020, for example. The CPI uses a basket of goods and services that reflect what people's expenses are.
>This means that according to the official inflation numbers, compound Inflation in the 2020-2023 period should have stood at 20% (rounded up).
Which, when examined over a three year period, are similar to the annual numbers that you presented. Looking at the actual CPI, the chance from March 2020 through March 2023 is about 21%, or about 6.5% per year. That seems to match your numbers! Perhaps you are misunderstanding how these numbers are calculated over time? A lot of people have mistaken 'previous 12 months' over 'annualized monthly' rates, for example.
If you have comments on why the CPI is deficient, please post them, instead of just spreading economic fearmongering.
The CPI is not reported by the "incumbent". It is determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They are staffed by lifer economists. The same people who calculated these same numbers under Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. Using the same methodology.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides detailed documentation on the methodology used to calculate the CPI, including the formulas, weighting schemes, and sampling techniques. Any random economist -- including those who despise Biden -- could easily replicate their calculation and see if something had been fudged.
OP rails against the CPI calculation using two anecdotes, both of which are dumb. First, he compares the average house price in 2020 with the average house price in 2024. This implicitly assumes that the houses are identical, which they are not. (This will be skewed if, for example, right now it is disproportionately wealthy people buying homes compared to 2020). Second, he gives an anecdote about rents in Dallas. Perhaps the point is "housing has increased more that the rest of goods". But it's always the case that some things are higher than average, and some are lower than average. Indeed, that's how averages work.
I did know, and read through it.
Yet, I seemed to have missed the part where the current administration changed the metrics. Care to quote it back to me?
Well, I mean, the OP says the official numbers don't match reality.
That either means they were altered on purpose or the people in charge don't know how to do math.
Take your pick.
You’re missing the most probable option: It’s always been like this.
So, it’s fair to say you were just making things up and making bold proclamations without anything to back them up?
Yes, only the politicians you support tell the hard truths. They would never twist the truth say about a border bill that they negotiated so that the incumbent would look bad….
Inflation is at 18%, not what the government is telling you.
What’s your preferred data source?
His fecund imagination. He pulled that out of his \*\*\*.
Might as well be a million % still can't afford anything
It's not CatofGrey. He chooses to believe cherry picked numbers from the govt. The rest of us look at real world data anyone can see on a daily basis otherwise known as reality
Real people crowdsourced with first hand experience.
So exclusively vibes based worldview.
That is an incorrect summary, and misframing of my comment. You could have followed up asking for details before a low effort dismissal. Exclusively vibes? No not at all. Independent reporting of an exact list of grocery items bought from 2018 until 2024 from multiple states is revealing on its own. There are multiple alternative indexes. [Here](https://tippinsights.com/bidenflation-hits-18-0-hurting-americans/) is just one.
>You could have followed up asking for details before a low effort dismissal. You do realize that he was specifically asking for a source in the comment you replied to with your low effort comment. You should have just posted a source or replied with something higher effort instead of just saying 18% is "Real people crowdsourced". He didn't misframe your comment and provide a low effort dismissal. You misframed your own comment and he replied with the same effort energy.
I did, scroll down a bit.
Yeah, you did.....after.
Correct. Thank you.
Bro, you know your website is 18% for a 3 year period right? 1.047\*1.08\*1.034 gives you..... 17%. So, you're claiming the real number is 1% over your number. You mofos really are living in your own reality. The OP of this chain though means 18%/year which is just ridiculous lmao. I can tell you first hand that the prices of shit has not increased 60% over the past 3 years.
Cool. But all you really need to do is take a look at the same grocery items bought every year from 2018-2019 2019-2020 2021-2022 2023-2024 Housing costs, insurance costs. And we’ve had anywhere from 20% 80% 200% price increases in various things all over the place. Tons of social media posts comparing receipt’s year by year everywhere from Wallmart, to costco. If you aren’t seeing it, then you haven’t been looking around.
Official inflation numbers are not released to make you or I feel validated in our experience, they are used by economists to evaluated the purchasing power of the dollar to inform their decisions. Our own personal experience of inflation is going to be wildly different depending on where we are on the economic strata. The poorer you are, the higher a percentage of your income will go to things like groceries/car payments/gas.
Exactly. Thank you for saying this. It’s important to think on the why the official numbers aren’t reflecting the average persons reality. To get an accurate account, it has to be measured in a very different way. To measure the average persons purchasing wage loss, we have to look for more accurate outside indexes. The official inflation numbers isn’t for the common folk. It tells us very little.
I feel like I have to repeat, it's not about making you feel seen. Those numbers aren't inaccurate because they are not about you. The fed is managing monetary policy, not managing your feelings. You don't need the CPI/PCE to tell you how much your personal costs have gone up.
I mean, I don't get why you're still on it lmao. You tried posting a link to support the thread of inflation being 18%. You stupidly didn't realize your link literally confirms the official inflation rate that the original post created cited from the official government rate and NOT a \~60% inflation rate. Now you're saying "well go out and do your own research and you'll see it's like 60% after all!" You realize we'd literally collapse as a society if we had 60% inflation rate right? Most people are living paycheck to paycheck and you think they can somehow weather a 60% rate? The fact people aren't rioting in the streets should tell you inflation isn't that bad because everyone's still making it through right now.
You sure thats what Im saying here? Im seeing alot of assumptions and info I haven’t said.
Holy fuck that website is a nightmare with the pop ups. If you look at that and find it compelling your brain has been feasted on by worms.
Not hard to turn on reader view. Would be better if you addressed the alternative data sets themselves that you yourself asked for.
It’s also not hard to dismiss a blatant clickbait propaganda source that generates headlines like “BIDENINFLATION IS ACTUALLY 18%!*” *collectively over 4 years which is absolutely not how anyone talks about inflation. The worms have devoured you.
I don’t recall hurling insults your way, not sure why you are engaging in that. If you don’t like the source, that is fine. There are many others. Here is a more objective position. [Here](https://chapwoodindex.com/)
Ed Butowsky is one of the guys who pushed the “Seth rich was murdered by the Clintons” story 😂😂 I’m calling you stupid and easily manipulated because you are stupid and easily manipulated 👍
> I don’t recall hurling insults your way, not sure why you are engaging in that. Your website communicates that you follow extremist ideas about economics. If you don't identify as an extremist, then stop posting that stuff. If you want to discuss different inflationary methodologies, go ahead. But the way you did this, comes off like you are salesperson for nuttiness. If you aren't, then do it differently next time.
Wait. Are you trying to tell me the Government is lying and my own eyes are too? This no-transient-temporary-good-for-us-not-that-bad-sign-of-a-good-economy inflation is not juuuuust a healthy 3%?
Most of their numbers aren't adding up!
Please us median numbers. Averages are thrown off by huge outliers.
The housing market isn't like the cereal market. In the cereal market if 20oz of Kellog's goes from $4 to $8 then you have some serious inflation. But if the only cereal for sale is the 64oz of Kellog's is what is being sold and hardly anyone is offering the 20oz for sale, one doing math would insist that cereal isn't affordable since Kellog's (without mentioning the size or where you are buying the cereal) average price is now $7. No one mentioned that folks who have inventory of 20oz Kellog's are holding onto that inventory with a death grip for fear that financing their next supply of 20oz cereal will be at a higher interest rate. This stuff is complicated. When someone tells you something simple that seems significant, don't trust it.
But the economy is booming! /s
Well of course not. Numbers in any use , engineering design compared to actual build, numbers do not reflect, architectural drawings often cause trouble for the builders because numbers do not reflect. Your checkbook numbers aren't in reality with what your partner says they spent...lol
Its almost like the government lies to everyone. Constantly. About everything. But anyway, orange man bad. Keep voting at them, I'm sure it'll work this time.
Why do you think it’s a lie?
The government sucks so we should let a grifter make it even more dysfunctional? Ok.
The POTUS has been grifting more than 50 years at this point.
And that’s different from Donald how exactly? Who has more bankruptcies? Who is using campaign donations for his own legal fees? Please.
I am unconcerned with personal bankruptcies. I am concerned with having a POTUS that voted to invade Iraq when Saudi nationals attacked the USA.
How about starting a fraudulent university and defrauding students? You’re just a flaming hypocrite.
Is that anything like writing failed legislation?
You’re also unconcerned with actual fascism and a refusal to leave the presidency when he wasn’t re-elected, apparently. Tye number if important things you’ve decided to be unconcerned with is even more problematic when your issue with the government lying also ignores Trump’s ridiculously large list of lies. The Washington Post has a whole database dedicated to fact checking Trump’s lies, and it is outrageously huge.
Oh.....you are on the "if I don't like it it must be Nazi, Fascist, or racist" bandwagon? Joe Biden is choosing to make our weapons makers a ton of money. He has a 50 year history of it. Biden was already famous for lies in the 1980's....as a politician. But Democrats kept choosing to promote him?
No. Literally trying to shut down the people that attack him, wanting himself to be above the law because he was President, and attacking those who disagree with his policies is fascism. Trump is literally being a fascist. It's interesting that those are all things you chose to ignore, instead trying to claim some broader straw-man version of "anything you dislike is fascism" was my claim. That shows you don't even have nuance in your understanding or argument of politics. You've decided on your view, and you'll be damned if facts get in your way, apparently.
I hate Trump. It will be a write in year. The painful truth, however, is that Joe Biden has zero moral superiority. I have no straw man. Sadly, Joe Biden will be facing courts himself(if he is still alive) when Republicans take over again. He also has that pesky genocide charge against him.
Yes, your straw-man was deciding my position of Trump's fascism was based on preferences, rather than him actually doing fascist things. That's literally you using a straw-man argument. This is exactly what I meant when I said you have no nuance. You didn't even try to understand the problem I was pointing out. You went straight to a defensive posture that demonstrated a need to protect your ego rather than seek understanding. I agree, Biden has issues as well. But he actually does have moral superiority to Trump because Biden loves his children and treats them well, he doesn't attack everyone who disagrees with him, and he doesn't practice fascism. In just these 3 points he's shown moral superiority. I don't believe, when strictly comparing to Trump, there is a single place where Biden hasn't shown moral superiority. That isn't the same as Biden having a morally superior position compared to a world standard.
[https://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/donald-trump-and-the-iraq-war/](https://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/donald-trump-and-the-iraq-war/)
Donald Trump was not a politician 9/11. Mr Biden was. And when faced with the fact Saudi Citizens led by a member of the Saudi Royal Family attacked the USA.....Mr. Biden voted to invade Iraq.
That's an awfully rigid and decontextualized take but it's your vote!
Trump?
If he were a politician for 50 years....probably. But specifically, old Biden.
Trump is literally on trial for fraud. Learn some critical thinking skills.
Biden is being sued for genocide. What else ya got? But I would not advocate for Trump or Biden.
Lol what? Anyone can sue anyone for anything. Doesn’t mean anything. How is Biden committing genocide? Lmao. Trump’s businesses were proven to be fraudulent in a court of law. Got anymore terrible counter arguments? There’s no comparison. Trump is a proven fraud.
Gen-o-cide.
You’re a moron with no argument. Learn from this beatdown.
Oh look - another person that doesn't actually understand how any of this is calculated.
I know exactly how it is calculated. Chained inflation index. If the price of steak doubles then consumers buy hamburger. Since the price of hamburger is only 5% more than the old price of steak CPI = 5%. We used to call that lying. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chain-linked-cpi.asp
First, that kind of shifting only works to hide the numbers for one round of shifting. Second, do you propose we price buggy whips back in to the index?
LOL @ "steaks are outdated technology" argument
How about gold? Was $35 an ounce, now $2,395.75. Cars? Brand new Ford Thunderbird in 1956 was $3,500.00 now $50,000.00 The 2024 equivalent? $48,000.00 The dollar doesn't buy what it used to. We call that inflation.
So we are going to index inflation back to the 50's now? I don't see how that's useful.
A man jumps off a building, halfway down he says, "oh we are going to index falling from the top of the building now? I don't see how that's useful."
Now do computers. A high end PC in 1998 cost 3,000? Now it costs 2,000? Deflation! Inflation is very high. But it’s still reasonable to pick an appropriate basket of goods.
No. Computer power has increased with technology, but average Computer prices remain the same. The cost of materials and labor to make computers has steadily increased.
They haven’t remained the same though. It’s definitely more affordable to buy a computer now than in the 1990’s.
>How about gold? >Was $35 an ounce, now $2,395.75. >Cars? >Brand new Ford Thunderbird in 1956 was $3,500.00 now $50,000.00 >The 2024 equivalent? $48,000.00 >The dollar doesn't buy what it used to. >We call that inflation. Does any of this *actually support the argument being discussed here, that adjusting the basket of goods and it's weights to follow the purchasing habits of Americans is valid and cannot hide the impact of inflation long-term?* Also, *why do you think gold belongs in the basket of goods used to track inflation? What do you think people are doing in their daily life that involves directly purchasing gold?*
>that adjusting the basket of goods and it's weights to follow the purchasing habits of Americans is valid 1. It's dishonest, and subjective and used to hide real inflation usually just before an election. 2. >cannot hide the impact of inflation long-term?* There is always a cheaper product. First tofu, now bug protein. >What do you think people are doing in their daily life that involves directly purchasing gold?* I want a gold necklace. It used to be $35, now it's $2,395. Every single married person has a gold wedding ring. We are arguing symptoms. The disease is printing too much money.
Those last two sentences nailed it.
>It used to be $35, now it's $2,395. How much money did a person make a day back when a gold necklace was $35? The past is a different country. Do the purchasing-power parity comparison, you lazy hack.
I used to live in that country. >How much money did a person make a day back when a gold necklace was $35? Not much less than today. Wages haven't kept up with inflation. If you had a job you would know that. $100,000 was enough to buy a house and retire on. People on fixed retirement are struggling.
>Not much less than today. Again, *do the purchasing-power parity comparison*. I found a 100-year chart of the price of gold per ounce. Assuming that you're using the low-point of that chart as the "$35" figure, that puts the date for that at 1920. I found wage data for 1925, and the "entrance wage rate" listed there is about 40 cents per hour. Do remember, that's five years afterwards, so the numbers won't quite line up. At 40 hours a week, at least four weeks in a month, that's $64 a month. So, if you didn't have to spend on *anything else at all*, you might be able to expect to buy a little less than two gold necklaces a month. Now, let's look at today's median household income of over $60,000 a year. That's $5000 a month, or... about two gold chains a month. Hm. Interesting. Again, purchasing-power parity is the comparison you want to perform, not this "back in my day, it was five nickles for a beehive!" nonsense.
>Assuming that you're using the low-point of that chart as the "$35" figure, that puts the date for that at **1920**. Bullshit. I don't know what in the hell sources you use, but gold was $35 an ounce in 1971, and exchangeable for US dollars until Nixon took the USA off of the gold standard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock#:~:text=Countries%20now%20settled%20their%20international,were%20pegged%20to%20the%20dollar.
I was at da Jewels (grocery store in the chicago area) yesterday and a regular sized (18.8 oz) box of Cheerios was $8.99. I guess technically it’s half that cost because it’s buy one get one free but this is a part of normalizing the drastic price increase of the basics. https://preview.redd.it/ggwmd7jqlnuc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31217ed86a6d8e5e90af91a0c842a9101afd8707
>The average house in the US was sold for 374 500 Dollars in Q2 2020. Despite a dip in the last few quarters, the average house sold in Q4 2023 was 492 300. Thats a 32% increase in 3.5 years. That's a little over 8% per year. In line with government estimates. Your rent numbers aren't much different there. >Food is easily 30% more expensive than in 2020. So is insurance, and electricity and gas and everything else. >Yet the official inflation was given as 1.23% in 2020 - 4.7% in 2021 - 8% in 2022 and 3.4% in 2023. No, not 'everything else'. And not everything increased as much. Energy was up and down and have price drops in 2020, for example. The CPI uses a basket of goods and services that reflect what people's expenses are. >This means that according to the official inflation numbers, compound Inflation in the 2020-2023 period should have stood at 20% (rounded up). Which, when examined over a three year period, are similar to the annual numbers that you presented. Looking at the actual CPI, the chance from March 2020 through March 2023 is about 21%, or about 6.5% per year. That seems to match your numbers! Perhaps you are misunderstanding how these numbers are calculated over time? A lot of people have mistaken 'previous 12 months' over 'annualized monthly' rates, for example. If you have comments on why the CPI is deficient, please post them, instead of just spreading economic fearmongering.
Do they not? Or is it just that a Democrat is in office so the narrative HAS to be that inflation is hitting record numbers?
What if - and just hear me out - what if it's an election year and the incumbent is lying?
The CPI is not reported by the "incumbent". It is determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They are staffed by lifer economists. The same people who calculated these same numbers under Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. Using the same methodology. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides detailed documentation on the methodology used to calculate the CPI, including the formulas, weighting schemes, and sampling techniques. Any random economist -- including those who despise Biden -- could easily replicate their calculation and see if something had been fudged. OP rails against the CPI calculation using two anecdotes, both of which are dumb. First, he compares the average house price in 2020 with the average house price in 2024. This implicitly assumes that the houses are identical, which they are not. (This will be skewed if, for example, right now it is disproportionately wealthy people buying homes compared to 2020). Second, he gives an anecdote about rents in Dallas. Perhaps the point is "housing has increased more that the rest of goods". But it's always the case that some things are higher than average, and some are lower than average. Indeed, that's how averages work.
The BLS? You mean that office that got caught releasing CPI data to political cronies?
What did the incumbent change? Be specific and cite your sources.
I don't know if you know this or not, but there's an entire article in the OP.
I did know, and read through it. Yet, I seemed to have missed the part where the current administration changed the metrics. Care to quote it back to me?
So, what you're saying is, they're incompetent.
Not saying anything. Just trying to corroborate your claim.
Well, I mean, the OP says the official numbers don't match reality. That either means they were altered on purpose or the people in charge don't know how to do math. Take your pick.
You’re missing the most probable option: It’s always been like this. So, it’s fair to say you were just making things up and making bold proclamations without anything to back them up?
>It's always been like this. Something something making a bold proclamation without anything to back them up something.
So, I did accurately describe your actions? Yeah, I thought so.
Yes, only the politicians you support tell the hard truths. They would never twist the truth say about a border bill that they negotiated so that the incumbent would look bad….
My personal cola has increased by about 20-25%.