[ExI] Inflation graph

Kelly Anderson kellycoinguy at gmail.com
Thu Oct 31 19:04:10 UTC 2013


On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 9:01 AM, John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 6:41 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The government inflation number is a big lie. As is the unemployment
>> number.
>>
>
> Right, and the fossils of Archeopteryx, the transition form between
> reptiles and birds are all forgeries made by devil worshiping scientist
> eager to promote godless evolution, a theory straight out of the fiery pit
> of hell.
>
> http://www.cai.org/bible-studies/archaeopteryx-fossil-forgery
>

There have been such forgeries, Piltdown Man comes to mind. When people
with political or illicit financial agendas pretend to be scientists, great
damage can be done to science itself.

I am grateful that my understanding of the evolution of birds from
dinosaurs is greatly assisted by the recent finds in China, such that if
the berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx were found to be a forgery, it would
not change my opinion of evolution in the slightest.

That being said, it isn't a great comeback when complaining about the
government inflation number. The government has all kinds of good reasons
to lie about this.

http://www.investopedia.com/university/inflation/inflation2.asp
"Measuring inflation is a difficult problem for government statisticians."

The government itself has changed how the number is computed over time.
Using the fact that it is "complicated", I believe they have made small
"errors" in their own favor reporting a lower number than if they had not
done so. This is because many government programs pay out based upon the
number. It was a cheap way (politically) to reduce Social Security payments
for example. If you follow the money, it is easy to believe that government
statisticians have an interest in reporting a lower number.

Looking for a few minutes, I can't find a single article claiming that the
government numbers are too high, but a huge number of articles claiming the
reverse. Some claiming that the number is as little as 25% of reality. That
should give you an idea of the direction the government tends to skew the
numbers. They also want to hide the effects of quantitative easing, but I
think saving money from COLAs is the main gist of the story. I'm betting if
you were able to interview the numbers junkies that compute the official
government inflation rates, they would admit after a few beers that the
numbers are skewed low.

Now, all that being said, I'm GLAD the government under reports the
inflation number, because it reduced the debt and deficit and keeps us from
automatically spending a lot more money on stuff. So it's hard to argue
against something I would also do if I were them. But it is not in the
interest of the American People, just the interest of the government that
is served.

-Kelly
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