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Core inflation excludes food and energy. So as long as you're dead, you only experience core inflation! Everyone else who is alive is exposed to core inflatio

Core inflation excludes food and energy. So as long as you're dead, you only experience core inflation! Everyone else who is alive is exposed to core inflation and also the one that takes food and fuel into account. Perhaps that's why people don't "buy" the numbers. Because the numbers aren't representative of the reality that alive human beings experience.

dragontamer 5y ago
Core inflation is a different measure because food and gasoline prices vary so much. Its not about withholding information. Its about aggregating the important bits together. With a 60% rise in gasoline prices in the past year, it makes sense why you'd want to track gasoline separately from everything else. ------- If you want to just track "everything", then quote "CPI", not "core CPI" (a different number entirely).
jdavis703 5y ago
I don’t drive, I’m mostly on a plant-based diet, and I’ve been on 100% renewable energy for years. I’m very much alive, and also am willing to believe we’re not close to double digit inflation based on my costs. And I live in one of those high-priced metros, so I actually experienced a rent cut since everyone fled to Miami and Austin (thereby increasing prices there). Obviously your experience may be different, but remember econometrics tracks the entire economy, not just your budget.
- vntok 5y ago
  > I’m mostly on a plant-based diet, and I’ve been on 100% renewable energy for years Do you believe that your way of living is representative of the average American's?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - seoaeu 5y ago
    That's the thing, there is no one "average" American that this inflation number applies to! It aggregates over all of them, including the ones living on plant-based diets and using 100% renewable energy
  - stephencanon 5y ago
    It's exactly as representative as any other American's is. That's the nature of an average--everyone's contribution factors equally.
  - iso1631 5y ago
    The average american has 1 breast and 1 testicle. The term "Average American" tend to be used by people claiming to talk on behalf of them, without actually doing so (given that the "Average American" is as different from the "Average American" as everyone else)
    - dgfitz 5y ago
      If we’re being pedantic, less than one breast and less than one testicle. As well as less then 2 arms and less than 2 legs.
- newbamboo 5y ago
  “ experienced a rent cut since everyone fled to Miami and Austin ” Obviously not in a California metro where the state decided to subsidize rents to compensate for preventing evictions resulting in a windfall for landlords and massive rent increases throughout the state.
  - dpe82 5y ago
    I experienced a significant rent reduction in San Francisco this year.
    - klipklop 5y ago
      Check the rent for the places that SF'ers fled to. Your rent went down because a bunch of affluent people left and opened up a bunch of units.
      - dpe82 5y ago
        Right; the point is that rent did not universally increase.
ravenstine 5y ago
Ding ding ding! What we need is tools that help individuals plug in their budget and track how inflation affects them. These overall inflation figures are pretty much useless because they have to exclude information in order to not be too highly amplified in either direction. Creating a budget of how much I typically spend on food, gas, utilities, and such and being able to backtest that budget would be really helpful, and perhaps that data could be used to crowdsource inflation figures that are more representative of what the average person is actually experiencing.
- alisonkisk 5y ago
  Thats a job for your bank or accounting software.
- lottin 5y ago
  Inflation is not the same thing as cost of living. Inflation measures changes in the price level, while cost of living is the expenditure that is needed to sustain a particular standard of living.
bee_rider 5y ago
Which is crazy -- you could track my food intake and lack of energy expenditure to easily derive my core inflation.
deltree7 5y ago
Core Inflation is needed so that they can apply the right monetary policy. If you want your 'personal' inflation, they have data for that too. Fed releases all kinds of data (unemployment and monetary) and is pretty transparent. It is disingenuous of you (and contributing to the erosion of institutional trust of Federal institution) by falsely accusing them. Federal agencies aren't perfect, but at least educated people in HN should take the responsibility of giving constructive criticism based on facts rather than being brainwashed by random YouTuber/Blogger who is generally clueless about economics
- d4mi3n 5y ago
  Still waking up and it's possible I misread GP, but their comments didn't seem disingenuous on my reading. It's healthy to be skeptical of something that varies that much from one's personal experience. Your reply about data available for personal inflation was exactly the kind of information they needed to verify if the underlying data matches their personal experience. I understand the sensitivity to folks spouting "fake news", but let's not discourage critical thinking in a time where there is precious little to go around.
  - RC_ITR 5y ago
    It's NOT healthy to assume you're the 'average' when you are not. Almost no one on HN is reflective of the 'average' American and that lack of understanding is part of the reason the poor suffer so much in policy decisioning.
    - d4mi3n 5y ago
      I don't know enough to comment on "healthiness" of assumptions about ones' self and where they fit into analysis like in the OP's link. My commentary is purely on how we communicate with each other in a time where divisiveness, misinformation, and polarization are common and pervasive. It's hard, but if we want to have productive discussions we need to treat each other with empathy and talk to the best possible interpretation of each other's arguments. This assumes people are coming to a dialog in good faith, but everything needs to start with a little trust somewhere. Trolls are also not too hard to spot.
martingoodson 5y ago
The consumer price index does include food and energy. It's in the main table of the post we are discussing. It's not clear why you are not 'buying' them. Food...................... .4 .8 .7 .4 .9 .9 .7 6.1 Energy.................... .0 1.5 1.6 2.0 1.3 4.8 3.5 33.3

dragontamer 5y ago

Core inflation is a different measure because food and gasoline prices vary so much. Its not about withholding information. Its about aggregating the important bits together. With a 60% rise in gasoline prices in the past year, it makes sense why you'd want to track gasoline separately from everything else. ------- If you want to just track "everything", then quote "CPI", not "core CPI" (a different number entirely).

jdavis703 5y ago

I don’t drive, I’m mostly on a plant-based diet, and I’ve been on 100% renewable energy for years. I’m very much alive, and also am willing to believe we’re not close to double digit inflation based on my costs. And I live in one of those high-priced metros, so I actually experienced a rent cut since everyone fled to Miami and Austin (thereby increasing prices there). Obviously your experience may be different, but remember econometrics tracks the entire economy, not just your budget.

vntok 5y ago
> I’m mostly on a plant-based diet, and I’ve been on 100% renewable energy for years Do you believe that your way of living is representative of the average American's?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- seoaeu 5y ago
  That's the thing, there is no one "average" American that this inflation number applies to! It aggregates over all of them, including the ones living on plant-based diets and using 100% renewable energy
- stephencanon 5y ago
  It's exactly as representative as any other American's is. That's the nature of an average--everyone's contribution factors equally.
- iso1631 5y ago
  The average american has 1 breast and 1 testicle. The term "Average American" tend to be used by people claiming to talk on behalf of them, without actually doing so (given that the "Average American" is as different from the "Average American" as everyone else)
  - dgfitz 5y ago
    If we’re being pedantic, less than one breast and less than one testicle. As well as less then 2 arms and less than 2 legs.
newbamboo 5y ago
“ experienced a rent cut since everyone fled to Miami and Austin ” Obviously not in a California metro where the state decided to subsidize rents to compensate for preventing evictions resulting in a windfall for landlords and massive rent increases throughout the state.
- dpe82 5y ago
  I experienced a significant rent reduction in San Francisco this year.
  - klipklop 5y ago
    Check the rent for the places that SF'ers fled to. Your rent went down because a bunch of affluent people left and opened up a bunch of units.
    - dpe82 5y ago
      Right; the point is that rent did not universally increase.

ravenstine 5y ago

Ding ding ding! What we need is tools that help individuals plug in their budget and track how inflation affects them. These overall inflation figures are pretty much useless because they have to exclude information in order to not be too highly amplified in either direction. Creating a budget of how much I typically spend on food, gas, utilities, and such and being able to backtest that budget would be really helpful, and perhaps that data could be used to crowdsource inflation figures that are more representative of what the average person is actually experiencing.

alisonkisk 5y ago
Thats a job for your bank or accounting software.
lottin 5y ago
Inflation is not the same thing as cost of living. Inflation measures changes in the price level, while cost of living is the expenditure that is needed to sustain a particular standard of living.

bee_rider 5y ago

Which is crazy -- you could track my food intake and lack of energy expenditure to easily derive my core inflation.

deltree7 5y ago

Core Inflation is needed so that they can apply the right monetary policy. If you want your 'personal' inflation, they have data for that too. Fed releases all kinds of data (unemployment and monetary) and is pretty transparent. It is disingenuous of you (and contributing to the erosion of institutional trust of Federal institution) by falsely accusing them. Federal agencies aren't perfect, but at least educated people in HN should take the responsibility of giving constructive criticism based on facts rather than being brainwashed by random YouTuber/Blogger who is generally clueless about economics

d4mi3n 5y ago
Still waking up and it's possible I misread GP, but their comments didn't seem disingenuous on my reading. It's healthy to be skeptical of something that varies that much from one's personal experience. Your reply about data available for personal inflation was exactly the kind of information they needed to verify if the underlying data matches their personal experience. I understand the sensitivity to folks spouting "fake news", but let's not discourage critical thinking in a time where there is precious little to go around.
- RC_ITR 5y ago
  It's NOT healthy to assume you're the 'average' when you are not. Almost no one on HN is reflective of the 'average' American and that lack of understanding is part of the reason the poor suffer so much in policy decisioning.
  - d4mi3n 5y ago
    I don't know enough to comment on "healthiness" of assumptions about ones' self and where they fit into analysis like in the OP's link. My commentary is purely on how we communicate with each other in a time where divisiveness, misinformation, and polarization are common and pervasive. It's hard, but if we want to have productive discussions we need to treat each other with empathy and talk to the best possible interpretation of each other's arguments. This assumes people are coming to a dialog in good faith, but everything needs to start with a little trust somewhere. Trolls are also not too hard to spot.

martingoodson 5y ago

The consumer price index does include food and energy. It's in the main table of the post we are discussing. It's not clear why you are not 'buying' them. Food...................... .4 .8 .7 .4 .9 .9 .7 6.1 Energy.................... .0 1.5 1.6 2.0 1.3 4.8 3.5 33.3