Is this article total BS?

[GeezerSteve]

Economics is fuzzy subjective science at best.

When I walk into a supermarket in the mountains in January and see blueberries at 3.99 along with a huge selection of affordable, fresh produce, I wonder where this so called inflation is.

There goes Bunny, cherry -- er blueberry -- picking again.

The answer: NAFTA. Those blueberries likely came from S of the border.

[4matic]

Out of season imported fruit is usually sour.

[Sirshredalot]

OK, for those thinking or believing that the article is BS, consider which has less BS: that article or the "official numbers".

Yeah, so it's all bullshit and not relevant to any particular experience, but really, how much cred do the "official numbers" have?

Buster - in case I was unclear, I was the lead analyst for several reports for a federal statistical agency for many years. The methodology undertaken by BLS, BEA, and their counterparts is reputable, trustworthy, and available to the public. These agencies are conservative and detail-oriented in their work.

Last I saw, the million price project estimates suggest that official measures of inflation are actually overstated.

[4matic]

I watched the Powell press. Nothing said or asked about looming deficits. I guess they don’t matter

[Benny Profane]

Economics is fuzzy subjective science at best.

There goes Bunny, cherry -- er blueberry -- picking again.

The answer: NAFTA. Those blueberries likely came from S of the border.

So what? And cheap cars come from Korea and clothes from Vietnam. What's wrong with that? It's why there's outright deflation in various goods we buy everyday. Many point to computers and the internet for internationalizing markets, but ease of shipping has contributed more. Fine with me. I eat better than a nobleman from the ninteeth century.

[Benny Profane]

I watched the Powell press. Nothing said or asked about looming deficits. I guess they don’t matter

Because he knows that, as long as we're the world's reserve currency, we can print our way out of any so called deficit issue.

[DBdude]

that's not true

[Buster Highmen]

Buster - in case I was unclear, I was the lead analyst for several reports for a federal statistical agency for many years. The methodology undertaken by BLS, BEA, and their counterparts is reputable, trustworthy, and available to the public. These agencies are conservative and detail-oriented in their work.

Last I saw, the million price project estimates suggest that official measures of inflation are actually overstated.

I don't doubt that, given the definitions, they are adhered to by the feds. I'm trying to point out the following regarding those definitions:

>>>>>
The "Official Numbers" are bullshit for people living in rural areas.
In the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for example:
" People not included in the report are non-metro or rural populations, farm families, armed forces, people serving in prison and those in mental hospitals. "

In January 2012, the Federal Reserve declared it would rather use the PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) index than CPI since PCE provided inflation trends that are less affected by short-term price changes. The PCE does include housing prices:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DHUTRC1Q027SBEA .


But the PCE does not include gasoline or food:
The "core" PCE price index is defined as personal consumption expenditures (PCE) prices excluding food and energy prices.

Wage growth is far behind inflation and has been for some time, even in urban areas:
https://www.glassdoor.com/research/a...ith-inflation/

Rural areas are feeling the financial crunch more than ever. I don't know what the suicide rate breakdown is across urban versus rural areas, but at least in the above charts, those states with the highest suicide rates have few multimillion population urban areas.

While the CPI does include food and energy costs, the other "official number", Core Inflation does not.

<<<<<

[Core Shot]

Oooops, sorry for posting this in the padded room. Mods feel free to move it.

Please don’t.

Just stop arguing drumpf vs o bummer. They all suck.


But, the op is right. Been a fan of shadowstats for a looong time.
It’s true, your government lies.
It’s true trump was for real economics before he was against real economics.

Inflation and unemployment are fudged.

But also check money supply. M1, M2, M3

Lies, lies and more damned lies

Ps, trump was also against the budget deficit before he was for it.

The more interesting question is what happens when the dollar is no longer the world reserve currency and we can no longer export our inflation.

[Benny Profane]

that's not true

Where have you been for the last decade?
How do you think we bailed out the banks?

[liv2ski]

The more interesting question is what happens when the dollar is no longer the world reserve currency and we can no longer export our inflation.

This has me worried, as I think that day is getting closer and closer with Dump pissing off our allies and China exerting her influence.

[4matic]

Reserve currency is a blessing and curse. It’s largely a banking function. That’s why we need the Yuen to also act as reserve.

[DBdude]

what I mean is that we can't continue to issue to debt and have the Fed buy it. as you allude to the impending issues we are going to have to fund mediicaide medicare ssn and service our debt. what the fed did during the crisis was justifiable. our current spending with the tax cuts is not justifiable.