Those people don’t understand how the CPI is calculated. A basket of goods is used to project what an average person would spend on goods and services. Do peopl

Those people don’t understand how the CPI is calculated. A basket of goods is used to project what an average person would spend on goods and services. Do people in New York spend more on the same basket? Of course! But the percentage change is fairly uniform in a connected economy like the US. The measurement is intended to calculate the macro effect of inflation; not Bob’s impact, who lives in Ohio, owns three cats, and exclusively eats tuna from a can. An analogy is the BMI. This is intended as a population metric, but is often used by the individual. It’s less useful for the individual, but still actually pretty useful. If your BMI is above 30, you’re probably unhealthy. You might be a pro wrestler with huge muscles, but you probably aren’t.