Inflation article

[Escaped]

USA started cooking the books on inflation when they took the cost of housing out and replaced it with "rental cost of housing". That one change (among several used to lower the inflation number after Social Security was indexed) helped the mtg meltdown to happen. Everyone thought rising real estate was a local phenom.--the change in the CPI kept it from slapping everyone in the face, and waking them up.
Thank you, Congress.

 

[brocolliandtea]

Living in Argentina is a struggle. Argentina isnt worth it. Cant have a good country when so many Argentines are bad. Do what the Argentines do, including countless former presidents, flee or better yet, do not move here people! Prices are soaring, the pollution that pours out of one truck with tailpipe pointed at sidewalk is appalling, dishonesty is normal and no one gets punished here, the place is in bad condition and deteriorating, and harmony and cheer is rarer than water on the moon.

 

[redrum]

well no thread on inflation would be complete without mentioning gold and silver. if you haven't already, pick up some gold and silver bullion in order to protect your purchasing power from the ravages of rampant inflation.

again, gold has been money for over 5,000 years and is now poised to re assume that role once again as the world drowns in worthless paper currencies. for the first time in years the central banks are net buyers of gold rather than being net sellers.

gold is up 10 years in a row and will continue to increase as long as the world's central banks continue to expand credit. throw in the lack of transparency in the financial markets as well as the threat of war and you've got all the perfect reasons for holding the yellow metal.

the sky is the limit for gold. more countries and US states will continue to have problems with sovereign debts, including California and Illinois.

 

[bigbadwolf]

USA started cooking the books on inflation when they took the cost of housing out and replaced it with "rental cost of housing".

I'm in England at the moment, where the figures are just as cooked. The official unempoyment figure is a complete travesty. The official rate of inflation is referred to as the "headline rate" even by the newspapers (somewhat ironic). The government even miscounts the number of people in the country. The official figure is around 60m. But it would appear there are at least 77m (source).

If all the figures are lies, how can the citizens of a country have an informed debate about matter such as inflation, unemployment, population growth, and so on?

 

[elhombresinnombre]

I'm in England at the moment... ....The government even miscounts the number of people in the country. The official figure is around 60m. But it would appear there are at least 77m (source).

That's a very interesting article but it moves from measuring drug use from 'outputs' to measuring population from 'inputs.' Given that the level of food waste is measured from 'outputs' and stands at about one third http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1460183,00.html then if supermarkets are selling enough to feed up to 80 million, the population should only be about 53 million so patently both or all the figures must be wrong.

National Statistics in the UK have a pretty good record for standing up against government attempts to supress or manipulate their data and the figures for the 2001 census are pretty robust. I expect the 2011 figures to be robust too. My gut feeling is that they will show much bigger changes to the population than the general public currently imagine but nothing like the scaremongers would have us believe.