Punch line: The Feds are reporting that inflation is in check at just over 3%. An independent assessment puts the number over 8% … more credible given what’s been happening on supermarket shelves.
Excerpted from the NY Post
On the face of it, the government measure of consumer prices, the CPI, is just mildly alarming — with the government estimating prices to be rising at a 3.1 percent annual rate.
But as anyone who pays the bills or does the household grocery shopping knows, a government-reported 3.1 percent inflation rate is laughably low.
Bought cereal or mac and cheese for the kids lately? If so, you’re aware of the near double-digit increase in prices in the supermarket aisles.
So what is the true inflation rate?
The folks at the American Institute of Economic Research have resurrected the idea.
Their Everyday Price Index (EPI) strips away the cost of big-ticket items, like homes and cars, and looks at the cost of things that consumers encounter on a daily or monthly basis, such as groceries, prescription medicine, and telephone and cable bills.
By that measure, the Everyday Price Index shows inflation galloping ahead at an 8.1 percent annual rate.
Reference: AIER Report
Tags: AIER, CPI, EPI, Everyday Price Index, inflation
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