You're going down the ladder instead of up. We measure inflation via CPI where CPI is really just an indicator. When CPI hits 8.1% we know inflation is above ex

You're going down the ladder instead of up. We measure inflation via CPI where CPI is really just an indicator. When CPI hits 8.1% we know inflation is above expectations but that doesn't mean inflation is literally 8.1%. Only that it's within that order of magnitude. Going down the ladder to contributing statistics like money supply gives you even less of the true picture. Inflation is systemic can't really be boiled down to a number at all. We have the same argument over "true unemployment". There absolutely isn't any possible way to come up with a number to accurately represent the massively complex employment situation. We use U3 as a key indicator. Think about it like measuring how smart you are via your SAT score. It's a good indicator but it's not the whole story. And when there are sudden shifts it implies something is wrong.