I see this little snippet:
Prices paid by U.S. households surged higher in September as a wide range of goods and services became more expensive.
Prices rose 8.2 percent compared with a year earlier, the latest Consumer Price Index showed on Tuesday, evidence that the price stability sought by the Federal Reserve remains an elusive and distant destination.
…and I ask myself: where the hell does that 8.2% come from?
Way I see it, inflation should be measured across categories which hit the average person the hardest: food, fuel and utilities (FFU). All the rest are pretty much non-essential, other than in an emergency situation.
In my case, when I scrutinize my budgeted vs. actual expenses spreadsheet, the FFU inflation is running at about 23%, comparing the latest two months of this year’s expenditures to the same two months of last year. Gasoline costs, of course, are about 28% higher, even with me cutting back on my driving; food is about 20% higher (once again, “buying down” in terms of quality/quantities), and utilities are about 15% higher (and Aug/Sep was actually warmer in 2021 than this year).
None of the above is even close to the “8.2%” (LOL) that all these shitheads are talking about.
We are being lied to, and I really don’t like it.
You are absolutely correct. My expenses on Fuels, Heating, Electricity and Food have jumped pretty close to 25% since Trump departed office and it is not getting one whit better.
Any figures from the feds are suspect and I do believe they are “massaging” all stats, including employment and anything that paints a bad picture for the D party..
Kim… you’re misremembering. We’ve always been at war with Eastasia.
Everything “out there” now is a fucking lie. If you want the truth in anything you have to find it yourself, as you have demonstrated. Prices are up, nobody can deny it, some more than others. My hope is that with things going the way they are truck prices will drop, drastically.
They have been cooking the CPI since the days of Bush 1. Go to http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts
to get the real numbers. Note that what I call the real numbers still uses the market basket approach and doesn’t address your original complaint.
I was working in financial analysis in the very late eighties, and we came to that conclusion back then. The Government is the biggest debtor in American history, if not the world. It is a bad thing to let the debtor measure the number by which they have to increase payments. This is just another indicator of the inflation culture that has been built into the American economy in the last century since the formation of the Federal Reserve.
Further back than that richard. Try back to Jimmy the Vague and Fritz the Fleece ( AKA Carter / Mondale ). They were buying everything in sight and running the mint printing presses around the clock to hide the bill ! Hence inflation in the mid 20’s percent, mortgages in the
14%-19% range (!), on and on. The TRUE inflation rates were NEVER stated by the ‘government’ – just like today !!!
It’s NOT GOING TO STOP or even get better until the presses ARE STOPPED. Ever since ‘covid’ there has been an appreciable number
( I’ve heard several MILLION ) who simply have not gone back to work since they can live just as well or even better sitting on their backsides
and collecting ‘free money’ from the myriad of GOVERNMENT agencies/departments created to ‘help people’. This has turned the so called ‘safety net’ into a hammock and there are plenty of people willing to snooze in that hammock and NO LONGER PAY TAXES since their ‘income’ now comes from the rest of those who ARE STILL PAYING TAXES. This has led to a ‘income shortfall’ for government’ AT ALL LEVELS and the ‘need’ to print money to cover the shortfall !
Relatively simple solution but it WILL TAKE TIME and it WILL NOT BE PAINLESS. Reagan did it and it can be done again but it won’t be until the Delaware Doofus & Company are no longer in control and someone who understands what needs to be done and has the means, backing and guts to do it is in control.
Don’t hold your breath !
What he says!
To paraphrase the ‘ragin’ dajun’, IT’S THE FED SPENDING, STUPID!
Preach it. I’m stunned that your fuel costs are ‘only’ 28% higher; over here it’s about 50%. And that has a knock-on effect on everything else.
Texas, baby.
You are surprised that our government (of the people, by the people and for the people) is lying to us!
When has that ever, EVER not been the case? The government is run by people whose primary concerns are money and power, power and money. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.
It’s just a little bit worse now due to the idea that those in power now are afraid that they are about to be replaced by a new group of liars with new and different lies.
Next you’ll tell us that the Government has been fudging the Covid numbers, the unemployment statistics and numbers of new ” Immigrants” crossing the borders.
But at least we trust them to count the votes correctly.
The old lady has been bitching at me about spending.
Since I do nearly all the shopping (since I work at home) I see it. She doesn’t.
Food is the budget buster. I told her that exact thing you’ve said – inflation is 23-25%, not the 8% they are telling us.
you can either learn from history or trust the government but you can’t do both
I bought into a guaranteed rate from my utility for gas and electricity back in September 2020 for 3 years. Every month I get a little reminder notice of how much I WOULD have spent had I not done so. I know they’re setting me up for renewing the contract next year, but I don’t mind. I saved about $1100 in 2021 and have already saved $1530 in 2022.
Also, in my neck of the woods, property taxes have gone up just as fast as housing prices. My property taxes are up 26% in 3 years. My homeowners insurance is trying to stay ahead of that rate and has jumped 54% in just two years and is up 300%+ since I bought my house in 2015. Her in Virginia we have to pay property taxes on cars and with the value of used cars going up, those taxes (for me) have gone from $1400/year to just over $2200/year (my newest car is a 2019).
How do you separate out the price increases due to inflation from the price increases due to supply chain destruction wrought by incompetent C19 handling?
That’s part of the inflation.
Inflation isn’t something with a specific cause.