> This year FED started to manipulate inflation rates: Inflation is calculated by the BLS, not the Fed. > Instead of 12-month base they used 18-month base. N

> This year FED started to manipulate inflation rates: Inflation is calculated by the BLS, not the Fed. > Instead of 12-month base they used 18-month base. Not sure what you are referring to. There are many different time series, and year over year is still one of them. > They removed 31% of goods with highest inflation, but only 24% of goods with lowest inflation. Again, I have no idea which time series you are referring to, but the CPI basket is regularly recalculated according to standard methodology and according to fixed schedules. The basket changes otherwise we'd be measuring inflation based on the cost of 8-tracks and shag carpets. The methodology of updating the basket according to pre-specified criteria has not changed. The only issue with the current recalculation is that the basket may have been distorted due to unusual consumer behavior as a result of covid (e.g. less money spent on dining out, plane tickets, more money spent on home delivery, etc). But if they would have skipped the recalculation then there would be even more conspiracy theories about the BLS changing their methodology. However I can tell you that it is not unusual to drop more expensive items from the consumer basket and replace them with cheaper items, provided that the substitutions reflect observed consumer behavior. For example, we don't include home milk delivery prices or handmade shoes in the consumer basket anymore as people have substituted away from these products to cheaper alternatives. It is because of these substitutions that the basket needs to be regularly updated to reflect the basket of things that people are actually buying rather than what they used to buy 20 years ago. Really not sure why there are so many CPI-truthers out there. The BLS and the BEA are transparent and professionally run organizations, yet they are punished for disclosing their data and methodology as it gives people even more fodder for wild speculations. There's something about government time series that brings out these tendencies -- like how all those H.6 releases regularly trigger panic about the dollar collapsing.