Why is the government measured inflation not the same as real inflation?

JumpCrisscross 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Because people can’t internalize regional variance. So since the beginning of time, it’s not noticed when the national number is higher and fraud when it’s lower.

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jazzpush2 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Ah, you're right. A broad, contrarian dismissal is exactly the way you should respond in any conversation related to CPI/inflation.

By the way, that coffee is $9. Sorry, Brazil tariffs and everything else - you understand.

	▲	JumpCrisscross 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		There are legitimate complaints with CPI. The Reddit variety is mostly statistical illiteracy. > that coffee is $9 Lots of coffee data [1]. One I think tracks a cup in a city is up 17% YoY. [1] https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/APU0000717311&series_id=CUUR...

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nerdsniper 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Americans spend a significant portion of their income on food and fuel, which are excluded. Historically, these together accounted for about 15% of their income, probably up to 20% after recent price increases.

	▲	zeroonetwothree 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		They are not excluded from CPI. You may be thinking of “core” inflation but the baseline CPI includes those.

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eatsyourtacos 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Because they basically pick and choose what's in there.

If you sat down and did the math on what it costs someone to pay rent / mortgage, car insurance, health insurance, daycare, schooling, going out to eat and drink, doing anything for entertainment, go to the grocery store.. it's not a debate that the real inflation is significantly higher all the time than what is used to measure the number.

	▲	jakobnissen 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		But that’s exactly what the inflation measures of the BLS is - someone doing the math on what all these things cost.