If I have diabetes or cancer, I can't go to Costco and buy a flat panel TV to cure it. The good jobs all require college degrees. New laptops don't come with college degrees. Yes, some of the stuff I don't need has gotten cheaper. Same case with childcare and housing. But the stuff everyone needs has gone up a lot. That's not captured by the Fed's measure of inflation. If it was, it would be a lot higher.
I didn't realize that price indexes of flat screen TVs and iPhones have equal weighting to indexes of healthcare, tuition, housing, cars, etc etc, and that electronics prices have declined so much, they've nearly neutralized the several hundred-pct increases in aforementioned 'primary' expenses /heavysarc You need to unlearn whatever 'education' you've got, bc there doesn't appear to be any deductive reasoning in the noggin.
What's a gallon of gas cost today versus 2008,y 2012, 2013? The basket of goods and methodology used to measure the CPI are spelled out in excruciating detail at https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/cpihom.pdf and yes, the cost of the three items you cherry picked are there, covering pages and pages actually. As is the item I cherry picked as are all the antecdotal items we could sit around cherry picking all day. When you've read the methodology handbook you can have an intelligent discussion about the limitations and issues with inflation measures. Until then, probably best to observe the old Maxim that it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than too open your mouth and remove all doubt.
and consider pretty much everything goes into the cans and the balls are made from oil.. and during this period oil was $20-160... yeah, gotta be proud to be American.
I bet you there won't will be a rate cut in September.cpi ticked up and employment is at record highs. Equity markets are near record highs. Unless any of those figures turn decisively south fed will stay pat.
OK, I bite. Name me a specific product and I will calculate in front of you that the weighted price increase of that product category exactly matches with the numbers in the cpi basket. Sick land tired of the econ figure conspiracy theories. I am happy to shut you up for good, free of charge. Bring it on and I show you that education cost increases , for example, are perfectly and accurately reflected in the cpi basket.
Exactly. Most people are fools who are fooled by biases, all sorts of biases. They don't understand something and in their foolishness call that something manipulated. This happens when someone watches more CSI and other sorts of conspiracy drama rather than hits textbooks and studies research. Most unfortunately will never resort to the latter because their intellect does not allow for such. It's easier to rant on the sofa inside a trailer on Facebook and Twitter than actually facing reality and facts.