ARE WE HAPPY WITH THE CURRENT INFLATION RATES?
Once again I wonder if anyone can do simple math?
We are being asked to believe that the average inflation rate, or the rate of devaluation of our currency for last year was 8.3 %.
How many Americans will accept this because they trust the source? How many will accept it because they lack the will to think about it?
How many of us will allow logic to tell us that there is something amiss here?
We are told in the most recent report that the inflation rate for the following consumer goods are as reported;
68.8%fuel
53% Other motor fuels
39.8% eggs
38.3% margarine
33.5% Airlines fares
33% Utility, piped gas
17% milk
16.6% Chicken
16.2% bread
15.2% Potatoes
13% rice
https://www.cnsnews.com/article/washington/terence-p-jeffrey/bls-inflation-price-food-highest-1979
If we add the rate of increase listed for each of these items, then divide by the number of line items, we get the average, and it does not come to 8.3 %.
It averages a 31.30% increase in cost. Even this is not representative of the impact on our livelihoods.
This 31.30% increased cost is reached as we equally average fuel costs with milk, eggs, and chicken, etc.
Does anyone spend as much of their income on milk, eggs, and chicken as they do on fuel costs,? I think not. Therefore it is not equitable to simply average these items together equally.
This report doesn’t mention health care costs, or education costs, which have exploded over the past few years.
If you have read my SubStack on inflation you will know that I don’t believe that consumer cost increases are fully indicative of inflation anyway. They are adversely affected by inflation, but they are only a symptom of the problem.
This report is meant to help to take our eyes off of the problem, the increased creation of currency, and it severely downplays the impact on our wealth.
I would just like to point out that these types of reports don’t even have mathematical legitimacy, as they average a 13% increase in the cost of rice, which you might spend fifty dollars on in a year’s time, with a 68.8% increase on the cost of the fuels that you spend a much larger percentage of your income on.
It’s time to start thinking a little clearer. It doesn’t matter how well intentioned our sources are, if they don’t mention a few basic points, they will cause us to come to erroneous conclusions.
God bless you, Dave