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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Rono, post: 1052443, member: 6492&quot;]Hi wl,</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>aaaaarrrgggh.&nbsp; They&#039;ve changed the formulae used to calculate various gov&#039;t stats.&nbsp; This particularly includes the CPI.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>For example, housing makes up 20% of the market basket.&nbsp;&nbsp; Housing&#039;s been flat for since the real estate meltdown so that&#039;s a drag on the CPI . . . but it&#039;s get better.&nbsp;&nbsp; They use a Rental Equivalent rather than owned houses so they missed the entire real estate boom.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Also, they use Hedonic Adjustments.&nbsp; Yeah, I know but it&#039;s neat.&nbsp; This means that if the product is New and Improved, they can charge more and the price increase is not considered inflationary.&nbsp; Oh, this makes sense but ONLY if I can still buy the old and unimproved version.&nbsp; When I traded in my 2000 Montana for a 2005, it was 5K more for things I didnt&#039; want or need, but were part of the package.&nbsp; feh.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Lastly, flat screens and computers are helping to defray the increases in commodities - which don&#039;t show up in the CPI but have to work their way thru the entire production process.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If you&#039;re curious about how badly we&#039;re being screwed, go to:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.shadowstats.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.shadowstats.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.shadowstats.com/</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It&#039;s a web site run by John Williams where he recalculates the primary gov&#039;t stats using the formulae they used when Reagan was President.&nbsp; Inflation&#039;s really about 8% and Unemployment is about 22%.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>what&#039;s in your pocket?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>peace,</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>rono[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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