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Those feds number are cooked. They replace steak prices with hamburger prices and say it is the same thing to show there is no inflation, while they have the pr

by bugsy 16y ago

Those feds number are cooked. They replace steak prices with hamburger prices and say it is the same thing to show there is no inflation, while they have the printing presses running 24/7. Food prices have doubled based on the receipts I enter into Excel. Everyone should do this and find that the Fed's numbers are totally fraudulent. Knowing this, you can then make better business decisions, such as to get rid of cash as fast as you can.

yummyfajitas 16y ago
They replace steak prices with hamburger prices This seems like the sort of thing they can only do once. Just curious, do you know when they did this? As for my food expenses, month to month variation is bigger than any increase. Which is surprising, seeing as I've been actively trying to eat more for the past year. But I guess healthy food is cheaper than the crap I was eating two years ago.
- stephenbez 16y ago
  I was curious so I googled it and found this: http://www.shadowstats.com/article/consumer_price_index http://www.shadowstats.com/article/consumer_price_index Apparently it happened early in the Clinton administration. Quoting: The Boskin/Greenspan argument was that when steak got too expensive, the consumer would substitute hamburger for the steak, and that the inflation measure should reflect the costs tied to buying hamburger versus steak, instead of steak versus steak. Of course, replacing hamburger for steak in the calculations would reduce the inflation rate, but it represented the rate of inflation in terms of maintaining a declining standard of living. Cost of living was being replaced by the cost of survival. The old system told you how much you had to increase your income in order to keep buying steak. The new system promised you hamburger, and then dog food, perhaps, after that.
  - bugsy 16y ago
    Right, the steak/hamburger is one of the well known examples and certainly not the only one nor is it an isolated example. It is the way things are done; cooking the books is the official state policy. The adjustments are done across the board and have resulted in massive "savings" (more money for war yay) regarding Social Security payments and such that are indexed to their official inflation rates.

by bugsy 16y ago

yummyfajitas 16y ago

They replace steak prices with hamburger prices This seems like the sort of thing they can only do once. Just curious, do you know when they did this? As for my food expenses, month to month variation is bigger than any increase. Which is surprising, seeing as I've been actively trying to eat more for the past year. But I guess healthy food is cheaper than the crap I was eating two years ago.

stephenbez 16y ago
I was curious so I googled it and found this: http://www.shadowstats.com/article/consumer_price_index http://www.shadowstats.com/article/consumer_price_index Apparently it happened early in the Clinton administration. Quoting: The Boskin/Greenspan argument was that when steak got too expensive, the consumer would substitute hamburger for the steak, and that the inflation measure should reflect the costs tied to buying hamburger versus steak, instead of steak versus steak. Of course, replacing hamburger for steak in the calculations would reduce the inflation rate, but it represented the rate of inflation in terms of maintaining a declining standard of living. Cost of living was being replaced by the cost of survival. The old system told you how much you had to increase your income in order to keep buying steak. The new system promised you hamburger, and then dog food, perhaps, after that.
- bugsy 16y ago
  Right, the steak/hamburger is one of the well known examples and certainly not the only one nor is it an isolated example. It is the way things are done; cooking the books is the official state policy. The adjustments are done across the board and have resulted in massive "savings" (more money for war yay) regarding Social Security payments and such that are indexed to their official inflation rates.