I agree that inflation numbers aren't reliable on an individual basis. What people buy varirs too much across society and prices do not go up across all goods a

I agree that inflation numbers aren't reliable on an individual basis. What people buy varirs too much across society and prices do not go up across all goods at the same rate. However, it is a relatively uniform comparison across time. You don't run into problems of selectivity. ("Hey, X costs twice as much. Inflation is out of control!") You also don't have changing purchasing habits skewing the perceived cost of living, if you compare grocery receipts from year to year (to choose one example).