737823 said:
Thats the spin you spout out from behind an alias, probably so your aged parents don't whack you if they hear you telling such lies, seniors are the biggest victims of the flawed CPI because one of the reasons why they do it the way they do is to screw seniors out of much needed raises to Social Security. Your substitution "let them eat cake" theory about not being harmed is bull because the fact is those cheaper substitutes were available before the staples became too expensive. Thats like saying if you are forced to move out of your home in Hewlett Harbor over to Far Rockaway that you were not economically harmed because you still have a home, just substituted a less expensive one for the more costly one.
The basket of goods is periodically updated to account for changes in Technology, but as I said they added a value index that shows the price declining when thats the new baseline of whats available. Besides electronics tend to be things that will last for several years, not purchased over and over again like food, energy, insurance and taxes. I agree that the effects of CPI are hard to measure and vary because each persons costs are affected by what they spend their money on, my purchasing power of an hours worth of labor has declined by over 50%. Much more than the understated CPI. Some of the loss of disposable income from each hour of labor was eaten up by large property tax increases and nearly as large increases for medical coverage and other medical related costs, not due to illness but higher premiums, copays, deductibles etc. These things aren't even factored into the CPI but if its sold as a measure of the cost of living then they should be.
