tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22255339.post964080095025545641..comments2010-06-22T09:23:22.448-04:00The Artful Bloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03227942430854100249noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22255339.post-85792644794406946392010-06-22T09:23:22.443-04:002010-06-22T09:23:22.443-04:00Reported inflation almost always feels light because it excludes the major purchase that we make daily - food and energy.<br /><br />Propane and oil prices surge, prices at the pump have been over $2.80 pretty much since Katrina, many food items continue to climb in price, etc, but those are excluded due to their volatile nature (it seems as though they are only volatile when they are climbing).<br /><br />The basket of goods and services used to compute CPI includes over 200 inputs including:<br /><br />FOOD AND BEVERAGES <br /><br />HOUSING <br /><br />APPAREL <br /><br />TRANSPORTATION <br /><br />MEDICAL CARE <br /><br />RECREATION <br /><br />EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION <br /><br />You can see that a number of catagories - Recreation (TVs, electronics, etc), housing, apparel could be falling in price but since they are not daily purchases you might not notice the change as much as you notice the price of a box of Cheerios jumping to $4.49.<br /><br />One thing that I think all of the government statistics miss is the declining quality of everything sold. 40 yrs ago you could buy your kid a Schwinn from Sears and many of those bikes are still in great shape today. Now if you buy a NEXT bike from Walmart it might fall apart by August. In theory, the cost of the bike has fallen dramatically in inflation adjusted terms, but if you want to buy a bike for your child of comparable quality to an old Schwinn you have to pay 3-4 times the price of a Walmart bike.<br /><br />Thanks for the comment!The Artful Bloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03227942430854100249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22255339.post-67206485753822621332010-06-21T22:57:58.483-04:002010-06-21T22:57:58.483-04:00Russia and China want to have the worlds reserve currency. Bernake is inflating away the old dollar. My bet is on the Canadian dollar. Eh?<br />What we need now is for Canada to buy our debt, ya right. :)<br />I would like your opinion on the &quot;true&quot; rate of inflation. Everything that I buy is going up in price, yet gov says no inflation. go figure.<br /><br />The HermitThe Hermitnoreply@blogger.com