this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Inflation is actually going down, and the latest report was at 3.2% which is a lot less than it was a year ago and closer to the 2% target.
Sadly, while the inflation rate is positive, it's cumulative on the previous >1.5 years of high inflation. So, unless we're paid more sometime soon, we're still being permanently short-changed.
Literally just pay attention to the real wages component of the same BLS release CPI is included in
CPI isn't even close to actual cost of living anymore. It's just an average of cherry-picked costs.
The basket used for CPI is adjusted annually to replicate the average expenses for a person.
The real issue is just how to measure items such as housing and education expenses.
Someone who bought a house 40 years ago probably isn't paying anything. Twenty years ago and they're only paying a few hundred. Five years ago and they're paying a couple thousand. Renting today and they're paying a bit more. Similar issue with education.
If you live in SoCal or another VHCOL area, you're probably experiencing a different level of COL change than someone in the middle of Iowa.
And how do you handle the changes in the basket? Did consumer taste change or are people changing their buying habits to match their budget?
CPI is just a way to take thousands of variables and boil them down into one number.
Oil companies decided to lower their production all together because prices were too low, that shit is hitting right now and it's just the beginning
Inflation is per se the value for rising, the speed does vary.