"According to the latest consumer price index, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics published on Tuesday, the beef and veal index rose by 2.5 percent in July, compared to 0.2 percent for the broader food category. This capped an 11.3 percent increase over the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, the price of ground beef and uncooked beef steaks has risen by 11.5 and 12.4 percent, respectively, both now at record levels."
The “Inflation Rate” is an average across all products
Except the official inflation numbers most often cited specifically exclude food, housing, and energy.
AKA the things people can’t live without and that they spend the vast majority of their money on.
Which of course makes them utterly useless for anyone except the 10% or fewer who are rich enough that the majority of their spending is on less fundamental things.
That’s not even a Trump kakistocracy thing, that’s just one of the many ways in which the billionaire-owned media and ditto government have reinforced their “the economy” = “the metrics that matter most to rich people” swindle for decades if not centuries.
They use a “basket of goods and services” to calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the inflation rate in America. This basket includes items in major groups such as food and beverages, housing, transportation, medical care, recreation, education, and communication. It also accounts for taxes and fees directly related to these items but excludes income taxes and investment items.
Also, say you typically buy beef, pork, chicken, beef, salmon, avocados, cheese, nuts, beer, and wine and everything stays the same price except the beef, which goes up 15% per year. What are you going to notice? The beef, obviously. Is your perception going to be that overall inflation is 2% because only the beef went up, or is it going to be that inflation is out of control because beef went up 15% in just one year? Probably that inflation is out of control.
Humans are terrible at estimating inflation because humans have evolved to pay attention to things that change, and to not pay attention to things that don’t change or that change very slowly.
The “Inflation Rate” is an average across all products.
Beef is way, way higher right now.
https://www.newsweek.com/beef-prices-all-time-high-tariffs-2112771
"According to the latest consumer price index, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics published on Tuesday, the beef and veal index rose by 2.5 percent in July, compared to 0.2 percent for the broader food category. This capped an 11.3 percent increase over the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, the price of ground beef and uncooked beef steaks has risen by 11.5 and 12.4 percent, respectively, both now at record levels."
Except the official inflation numbers most often cited specifically exclude food, housing, and energy.
AKA the things people can’t live without and that they spend the vast majority of their money on.
Which of course makes them utterly useless for anyone except the 10% or fewer who are rich enough that the majority of their spending is on less fundamental things.
That’s not even a Trump kakistocracy thing, that’s just one of the many ways in which the billionaire-owned media and ditto government have reinforced their “the economy” = “the metrics that matter most to rich people” swindle for decades if not centuries.
They use a “basket of goods and services” to calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the inflation rate in America. This basket includes items in major groups such as food and beverages, housing, transportation, medical care, recreation, education, and communication. It also accounts for taxes and fees directly related to these items but excludes income taxes and investment items.
Also, say you typically buy beef, pork, chicken, beef, salmon, avocados, cheese, nuts, beer, and wine and everything stays the same price except the beef, which goes up 15% per year. What are you going to notice? The beef, obviously. Is your perception going to be that overall inflation is 2% because only the beef went up, or is it going to be that inflation is out of control because beef went up 15% in just one year? Probably that inflation is out of control.
Humans are terrible at estimating inflation because humans have evolved to pay attention to things that change, and to not pay attention to things that don’t change or that change very slowly.