[bs7280]

Remember this is the number the Government is measuring and reporting. The "real" inflation that every day people feel in their wallet is significantly higher.

[jakobnissen]

Why is the government measured inflation not the same as real inflation?

[JumpCrisscross]

Because people can’t internalize regional variance. So since the beginning of time, it’s not noticed when the national number is higher and fraud when it’s lower.

[jazzpush2]

Ah, you're right. A broad, contrarian dismissal is exactly the way you should respond in any conversation related to CPI/inflation.

By the way, that coffee is $9. Sorry, Brazil tariffs and everything else - you understand.

[JumpCrisscross]

There are legitimate complaints with CPI. The Reddit variety is mostly statistical illiteracy.

> that coffee is $9

Lots of coffee data [1]. One I think tracks a cup in a city is up 17% YoY.

[1] https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/APU0000717311&series_id=CUUR...

[BobaFloutist]

I think a broad, contrarian dismissal of a broad, contrarian dismissal of a metric is, while unhelpful, not inappropriate.

[nerdsniper]

Americans spend a significant portion of their income on food and fuel, which are excluded. Historically, these together accounted for about 15% of their income, probably up to 20% after recent price increases.

[zeroonetwothree]

They are not excluded from CPI. You may be thinking of “core” inflation but the baseline CPI includes those.

[eatsyourtacos]

Because they basically pick and choose what's in there.

If you sat down and did the math on what it costs someone to pay rent / mortgage, car insurance, health insurance, daycare, schooling, going out to eat and drink, doing anything for entertainment, go to the grocery store.. it's not a debate that the real inflation is significantly higher all the time than what is used to measure the number.

[jakobnissen]

But that’s exactly what the inflation measures of the BLS is - someone doing the math on what all these things cost.