Shoot. Well, basically it shows the food and gasoline price indices over 10 years. They both are up significantly. It's why no one really believes the BLS numbers, which are smoothed and biased to the downside.
They are smoothed on an annual basis, but it doesn't follow that they are biased to the downside. It's just data, the data collectors have no reason to cheat. There is not a vast conspiracy, involving all levels of government to deceive MM's wife.
I know you're not prone to introspection, but did you ever think that you notice very much when prices go up, but hardly at all when prices go down? It's a standard cognitive bias share by almost all of us.
There is one inflationary issue. Instead of dumb phones we now buy smart phones, with much higher monthly cost. Instead of "free" over the air TV, we now buy cable, and subscribe to adders like HBO. We spend much more on all kinds of devices, iPads, flat screen TVs, computers, phones, set top boxes. All that is incremental from what we spent 10-15 years ago. And much more significant, on a monthly basis than the cost of a chicken breast.
I'll give you the cost of a gallon of gas. But frankly you and I have both rallied for more expensive gas. And with increased auto efficiency, the actual cost to the consumer is muted somewhat. I hope gas prices continue up, and force more efficiency (along with Dem regulation, sadly missing from the R's). |
