Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete Mckeon
I do not know all the problems or answers for them BUT the middle class is being attacked and income is not growing as liked, except for a few small segments. This is just my irish opinion
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Pete
I am not disagreeing with you. I believe CPI calculations as whole are not that bad. Your basket of goods and services differs significantly from the standard CPI baskets. Up until this year, my basket was also different in that I am fortunate to have a healthy family, heated my home with natural gas and don't drive that much, so my CPI was lower than the national average. Now this year, with a daughter's tuition costs, the spike in natgas, and my CPI is probably higher. So if the government decides to unfairly weight the CPI basket, the results are skewed. We can agree to that.
The more important point, though, is the insidious nature of chained CPI. If because of price increases, I substitute from a Mercedes to Ford to Hyundai, J Crew to Gap to Uniqlo, I may still have a car and clothing on my back , but I am definitely poorer even if my substitution allows the Gov to monkey with chain cpi and tell me inflation is not as high as I imagine.
And I don't disagree with you on middle class being under attack. It's just under attack from both parties. A friend and I were discussing the nuttiness of Tom Perkin's OpEds today, and he sent me this link to an old rant on FOX News from the 2012 election. Normally, I don't watch Fox, but Napolitano basically rants on the both parties. Probably the truest piece ever to air on Fox and he was fired for it.
http://themindunleashed.org/2014/01/...ox-5-mins.html
Video halfway down the page.