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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>Kelly Anderson<br><b><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.investopedia.com/university/inflation/inflation2.asp">http://www.investopedia.com/university/inflation/inflation2.asp</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>"<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>Measuring inflation is a difficult problem for government statisticians.</span>" -Kelly<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The fault is in the terminology. Inflation isn’t something that is measured in this case, but rather it is a report of the factor by which a particular government intends to adjust its pensioners for constant standard of living. The US government flatly refuses to let that number go negative, even if there are indications it would be perfectly appropriate to do it, if you assume food, fuel and labor out of the equation. As automation accumulates, the price of manufactured goods does decline. It doesn’t wreck an economy if prices decline.<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><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<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></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>