If you’re alive and buy anything, it’s obvious the inflation numbers are complete lies. Yes, I 100% understand how they are calculated. I’ve read at least two books substantially about how various CPIs and PCEs are computed.

That in fact has convinced me even more that how we calculate inflation bears little resemblance to how most people experience it. For the average person, cumulatively, inflation from 2020 to now has been about 75% I’d guess. Of course, inflation hits every person differently due to being in varying life stages and consuming a dissimilar bundle of goods. That’s why Kevin Drum’s “we should be able to have one canonical number for inflation” was so idiotic. It just does not and cannot work that way.

But the inflation numbers are clearly bogus, juiced, and anyone who believes they are legit is delusional.