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US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

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Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#91
post #67

Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Can anyone here verify this? Our main problems involve under the table unreported to the public military expenditures. If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think…

I can't speak to this, but I suspect something is afoot. I know my mom went to a university that she paid for with a part-time job while a student. Currently that university's tuition is 80,000 a year. When I looked at what inflation figures said for college education, it wasn't enough to account for that 10x+ increase.

Most US students don't go to selective private universities that charge $80,000 a year (and most students at those universities don't pay $80,000 a year). Only about a quarter of students go to private universities and most of those are not particularly selective. Most students go to state schools that are a lot cheaper and where tuition is subject to different economic forces.

You can't decide that official inflation figures are inaccurate based on a specific, outlier example, when the official figures are based on averages.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#92
post #36

Are there inflation indicators that aren’t government controlled? Don’t think anything coming out of trump influenced bodies is worth the paper it’s on anymore

[flagged]

> EDIT: The democrat brigade is busy downvoting me to deny reality. Poor children!

Per the guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like

Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#93
post #68

Frankly, I haven't seen a single country where I spent any significant amount of time, where official inflation numbers were not seeing as a complete joke by the common folks. And my experience usually matched it. There's plenty of space to hide reality when building a price index. Price index do not capture the reality of most people cost of living. They don't capture the family that have to buy margarine instead of…

> Frankly, I haven't seen a single country where I spent any significant amount of time, where official inflation numbers were not seeing as a complete joke by the common folks. The public in general can be really bad at perceiving the truth. I might take note of people's feelings to go and recheck something but I would not trust peoples feelings with stuff like this to make any sort of conclusion. Verifiable metrics…

Let's unpack this. The real, objective reality of people living their lives is not the Truth.

But, instead a single index based on what is basically a bunch of arbitrary choices of a bunch of bureaucrats, subject to all kind of agendas and political/economical/social pressure, and based on an simulacrum of science that stands upon a bunch of questionable premises and unfalseable propositions is Truth.

The pythagorean cult of number has been a disgrace for the human race.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#95
post #67

Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Can anyone here verify this? Our main problems involve under the table unreported to the public military expenditures. If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think…

I can't speak to this, but I suspect something is afoot. I know my mom went to a university that she paid for with a part-time job while a student. Currently that university's tuition is 80,000 a year. When I looked at what inflation figures said for college education, it wasn't enough to account for that 10x+ increase.

as far as college education prices go, there's no ceiling on education prices because there's no risk to lenders, they can lend as much as they want with no risk. As long as young people feel there isn't an alternative to a college education and risk to lenders is close to zero then there is no limit to what colleges can charge.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#96

In Norway our food prices has gone up by more than 4 in one month while we are destroying any capacity for local production while we have protectionism that would make Trump blush. How is that not newsworthy, but this is?

It's probably newsworthy, but this is an American website and Norway isn't exactly on the same level as the US. I wouldn't expect the same level of attention, at least internationally.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#97

Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Can anyone here verify this? Our main problems involve under the table unreported to the public military expenditures. If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think…

> Eventually countries that don't spend most of their treasure on their military will win.

Stipulating that they don't get eaten by their bigger neighbors. We're going to miss the Pax Americana.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#98
post #76
post #21

[flagged]

Business is always "greedy", but it's true that it took some external events to make them realize they could get away with higher prices because consumers had gotten lazy about comparison shopping and alternatives. Good on you for boycotting increases by eating simply.

Because business is not a single monolith, and because it is greedy, it kills the naive idea that "businesses raise prices because they can".

Any gouging price increase is a gaping hole for a competitor (businesses are greedy and therefore will take money from other businesses) to come in and steal business. This is something that is obvious to people who have been on the business side and mostly opaque to people who have only ever been on the consumer side.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#99
post #78
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak to this, but I suspect something is afoot. I know my mom went to a university that she paid for with a part-time job while a student. Currently that university's tuition is 80,000 a year. When I looked at what inflation figures said for college education, it wasn't enough to account for that 10x+ increase.

Inflation seeks to understand the change in value of a currency, not the change in value of a good or service. College being worth more (in the eyes of the customer), rather than the currency being worth less, is what accounts for the 10x increase. I don't know how old your mom is, but it wasn't that long ago that people only went to college if they had good reason to, not because they were told they "had to" under t…

People didn't need to go to college before the death of the middle class. A couple generations ago you could rent an apartment and have a decent life working at a restaurant or warehouse or factory. Now most entry level jobs pay poverty level wages.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#100
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Do you mean the other way around? The EU headline inflation rate doesn't include costs of owning a home like the US' does (owner's equivalent rent), which, as you might have guessed if you have ever wanted to own…

Exactly. Don't know about all of Europe, but I find the way inflation is calculated in the countries i lived here as bad faith since it intentionally omits housing costs. So just like a commenter below said, I haven't seen a single country where I spent any significant amount of time, where official inflation numbers were not seeing as a complete joke by the common folks. Everyone unanimously agreed the numbers are g…

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