The Inflation Picture Is Even Worse than Government Numbers Suggest
The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Michael Maharrey
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 4.9% in April. That’s an improvement over last year, but it’s still more than twice the Federal Reserve’s inflation target. And the reality is even worse than the numbers indicate.
So, is the government lying? Not exactly. They don’t have to lie about price inflation. They have created a rigged CPI formula that does the lying for them. The CPI formula is deeply flawed and significantly understates price inflation.
Maharrey explains how the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates CPI and concludes that the government is cooking the books. He goes on to discuss the way the Fed calculates housing prices, owners’ equivalent rent of residences and rent of primary residence (the government’s estimate of rental costs).
“This is why [Peter] Schiff said you need to at least double the official numbers to get a real sense of how much prices are rising. Keep this in mind every time you hear some government official or talking head on MSNBC gushing about how inflation is cooling. It’s only cooling from white-hot to red-hot—if that.”