The cynic in me suggests that the basket might intentionally be chosen to hide the fact that the cost of living is going up. Lots of people with money have ince

The cynic in me suggests that the basket might intentionally be chosen to hide the fact that the cost of living is going up. Lots of people with money have incentives for inflation numbers to be low. ex: COLA raises are common and benefit if the CPI hides the true costs Ex2: many government benefits are tied to "inflation" . If your personal basket inflates faster than their example basket then they can get away with paying you less than promised (in spirit).