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> measures inflation based on a basket of goods bought by the "average" consumer. Most of these goods are in competitive markets > I've suspected that maybe a

> measures inflation based on a basket of goods bought by the "average" consumer. Most of these goods are in competitive markets > I've suspected that maybe a simple way to fix this would be (snip) to drop money out of helicopters. Wouldn't a simple way to fix this, be to change the relative importance of the "basket of goods" so that it reflects what real people actually spend money on? Because housing, healthcare, and daycare/education when totaled should probably be 60-75+% of that basket, since that's where most people's money actually goes. Based on this - https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf - the percentages the Fed currently uses seems far, far too low. The cost of gasoline going up 50%, or the cost of laptops going up 50% is far less hurtful than say, the cost of rent going up 50%, or the cost of healthcare going up 50%. I suspect if we used realistic numbers for inflation cost calculations, we'd see the real rate is far higher than is currently claimed, which would help economists better understand why so many people are suffering so much under a "good" economy.

nostrademons 9y ago
The challenge is that this is non-uniform across social classes. The poor spend a large portion of their income on groceries, gas, rent, and basic necessities. The middle-class spend a large portion of their income on health care and education, which many poor people don't spend anything on because they can't afford it. The rich spend a large portion of their income on asset purchases like stocks and real estate. The Fed already tries to adjust the basket of goods to reflect what real people spend their money on. The problem is that the average dollar is not reflective of the average person. Dollars are concentrated among the rich; that's what inequality means. The rich spend their money on asset purchases like buying stocks, real estate, and businesses. To my knowledge, asset prices are not included in the CPI at all. If all the money that the Fed pumps into the economy ends up being concentrated in Facebook and then is used to buy Whatsapp for $19B, that doesn't count as inflation at all. So they keep pumping money into the economy, it keeps going to the 1%, asset prices keep rising, and the rich get richer while the poor get nothing.
- jjt-yn_t 9y ago
  A deeply systemic problem, for which I envy the rich not for the wealth but for the poor "sort of coerced" into spending UNWISELY on unhealthy foodstuffs, ... ..., the middle class "sort of coerced" into spending UNWISELY on non-disclosed health care costs and no-opt-out conformance, for example, with rules placed on their activities from afar not fathomed nor foreseen in the 1800's, driving up costs AND worries, and in many areas, also rent and high housing costs, and unread-then-INTO-LAW legal code that if voted on by the people might not stand the light of day. Atop of this, the overweight problem compounding healthy solutions vs 'more hours of the day seated to determine one's I's are dotted and T's are crossed' vs, say, if the tax code was an excise tax, ONLY, for individuals, below the 90th percentile, and vs if only OPT IN health insurance existed, meaning church-based or some such would take up the slack, and other divergences between the 1800's and the modern 'sit before the TV desks and create solutions' vs the more sanguine 1930's 'sit on the back patio and craft among-neighborhood-fathers solutions', the latter made extinct by ring-ring and switch one channel solution to another channel solution. C 2017 all rights reserved, if I could. [ rent ]

nostrademons 9y ago

The challenge is that this is non-uniform across social classes. The poor spend a large portion of their income on groceries, gas, rent, and basic necessities. The middle-class spend a large portion of their income on health care and education, which many poor people don't spend anything on because they can't afford it. The rich spend a large portion of their income on asset purchases like stocks and real estate. The Fed already tries to adjust the basket of goods to reflect what real people spend their money on. The problem is that the average dollar is not reflective of the average person. Dollars are concentrated among the rich; that's what inequality means. The rich spend their money on asset purchases like buying stocks, real estate, and businesses. To my knowledge, asset prices are not included in the CPI at all. If all the money that the Fed pumps into the economy ends up being concentrated in Facebook and then is used to buy Whatsapp for $19B, that doesn't count as inflation at all. So they keep pumping money into the economy, it keeps going to the 1%, asset prices keep rising, and the rich get richer while the poor get nothing.

jjt-yn_t 9y ago
A deeply systemic problem, for which I envy the rich not for the wealth but for the poor "sort of coerced" into spending UNWISELY on unhealthy foodstuffs, ... ..., the middle class "sort of coerced" into spending UNWISELY on non-disclosed health care costs and no-opt-out conformance, for example, with rules placed on their activities from afar not fathomed nor foreseen in the 1800's, driving up costs AND worries, and in many areas, also rent and high housing costs, and unread-then-INTO-LAW legal code that if voted on by the people might not stand the light of day. Atop of this, the overweight problem compounding healthy solutions vs 'more hours of the day seated to determine one's I's are dotted and T's are crossed' vs, say, if the tax code was an excise tax, ONLY, for individuals, below the 90th percentile, and vs if only OPT IN health insurance existed, meaning church-based or some such would take up the slack, and other divergences between the 1800's and the modern 'sit before the TV desks and create solutions' vs the more sanguine 1930's 'sit on the back patio and craft among-neighborhood-fathers solutions', the latter made extinct by ring-ring and switch one channel solution to another channel solution. C 2017 all rights reserved, if I could. [ rent ]