the way inflation is measured I think is accurate for a certain type of economic measurements, but it's not the intuition that consumers have about inflation.

the way inflation is measured I think is accurate for a certain type of economic measurements, but it's not the intuition that consumers have about inflation. It's a moving average to ask "prices this month are what percent over what they were this month a year ago?" because if prices shot up 20% last July, and then stopped going up August and onward, the measure is going to say that inflation this month is still at 20% over last year, but consumers have already got used to the new price level in the shops. At the same time, Joe Average is likely to be ready to grumble about prices all the time, so hearing that inflation is still at 20% will reinforce a sense that isn't really accurate. I'm not saying economists are not measuring the right things, I'm saying that the way the stories are played in the press requires some digging or interpretation.