Can we at least all agree that the 4.7% inflation for shelter in the CPI is utter bullshit? It's almost as if they wanted < 8% inflation, and just kept adjustin

Can we at least all agree that the 4.7% inflation for shelter in the CPI is utter bullshit? It's almost as if they wanted < 8% inflation, and just kept adjusting that number down in the spreadsheet until we hit 7.9%. Here on Earth, actual rent is up 19% and housing is up 18% YoY. It's also 1/3rd of the CPI basket. If shelter was set to 18.5% YoY instead of 4.7%, CPI would be well into double digits. ----- In reply: CPI isn't about things you're not buying. It's about new purchases. By definition. That said, 40% of homes in the US have no mortgage. ~6 million homes are sold every year. The CPI should be about the cost of those purchases changing YoY, not about "well, if we include all of the things people bought in previous years, as you can see, prices didn't go up."