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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, October 28, 2013 9:07 AM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] Inflation graph<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Sun, Oct 27, 2013 spike <<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net" target="_blank">spike66@att.net</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>> The comment itself presupposes that inflation is some kind of fiat number somehow dictated by some central power somewhere. [...] If reduced to one number, it does throw away some important subtleties. <o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Spike, if the graph <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/27/business/economy/inflation-falls.html?ref=economy">http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/27/business/economy/inflation-falls.html?ref=economy</a><br>were inverted and thus supported your economic theories would you still be saying that inflation can't be quantified and making other excuses? <span style='color:#1F497D'>etc… John K Clark<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>John, what I am saying is that these inflation numbers depend on what it is you are buying. Prices for electronics and most manufactured goods have been falling for years, while fuel and food have been going up smartly. So inflation is different for everyone. The overall number is an average of sorts, rather arbitrarily derived. For instance, should it include gold? I haven’t bought any of that, don’t plan to. Should it exclude food and fuel, when for many poorer people nearly all their available money goes for those two things? Should it be weighted somehow?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Consider the Zimbabwe example. Even during their exponential inflation, the price of some things actually went down, such as the price of cars. Their only value in most cases depended only on how much fuel was in the tank. A typical vehicle only had value if enough fuel could be scraped together to drive the thing to the southern border and sold for scrap. Even the spare parts were nearly worthless. Some of the raw materials, such as tires, could be cut up to make sandals. But food? Forget it, their currency couldn’t really buy that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Fortunately for me, my family are all vegetarians and light eaters, and we are well situated so we need not drive all that far. The climate is mild enough to seldom need any sincere attempts at HVAC. So food and fuel costs don’t hit me very hard.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>So inflation is arbitrary, and depends on what the consumer buys. A number is derived arbitrarily to let the government decide how it will adjust its pensioners for cost of living, but if you have some foresight when you retire, your costs can actually decline even in inflationary times. Housing around here is going up like crazy as foreign money is coming in and snapping up the available homes. But I am not buying; I already own one. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Inflation all depends on what you buy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>spike</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>