4 ms·

What the Fed does is actually worse (and more dishonest): they deliberately make "hedonic" or "quality adjustment method" adjustments that push down the inflat

• SilasX 9y ago
  I keep bringing it up, since it's the most egregious use of that logic, the time that the Fed insisted inflation must be low because the new iPads have faster CPUs[1]. As if a better quality luxury good (whose faster CPU is almost entirely eaten by new bloat) somehow cancels out higher food, healthcare, education, and housing costs. Interestingly, they never seem to adjust inflation upward because of product debasements (other than price per unit in a bundle), so that seems to bias the numbers. [1] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-dudley-ipad-idUSTRE72A4D520110311 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-dudley-ipad-idUSTR...
  • candiodari 9y ago
    They are rich: > Dudley tried to explain how the Fed sees things: Yes, food prices may be rising, but at the same time, other prices are declining. The Fed looks at core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, to get a better sense of where inflation may actually be heading. Guess exactly when food and energy costs were declared volatile. If you thought "when they went up" you'd be right. If you disregard those actual inflation is 5%.