Big Mac inflation index is better than CPI

[Anonymous]

Almost everything we actually buy has significantly outstripped inflation.

Education
Housing
Food (grocery and eating out)
Cars, Transportation, Hotels

It’s ALL gone up way faster than official CPI numbers. CPI is junk. The only things I can think of that haven’t outstripped inflation over the past 20 yrs are computers and gasoline maybe.

I make 300k now and according to CPI it should be equal to a ~186k salary in 2004. A more accurate figure imo is to look at Big Mac prices, back then a Big Mac was $2.39, and according to the McDonald’s app I can buy one for $5.59 today.

This means my $300k income is actually $126k in 2004 Big Mac dollars. This is definitely how things feel, low 100k’s back then was the benchmark for being comfortable and now it’s more like 300. 1M you could start thinking about retiring back then but now you need ~3M.

CPI is a lie.

[Anonymous]

Agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Almost everything we actually buy has significantly outstripped inflation.

Education
Housing
Food (grocery and eating out)
Cars, Transportation, Hotels

It’s ALL gone up way faster than official CPI numbers. CPI is junk. The only things I can think of that haven’t outstripped inflation over the past 20 yrs are computers and gasoline maybe.

I make 300k now and according to CPI it should be equal to a ~186k salary in 2004. A more accurate figure imo is to look at Big Mac prices, back then a Big Mac was $2.39, and according to the McDonald’s app I can buy one for $5.59 today.

This means my $300k income is actually $126k in 2004 Big Mac dollars. This is definitely how things feel, low 100k’s back then was the benchmark for being comfortable and now it’s more like 300. 1M you could start thinking about retiring back then but now you need ~3M.

CPI is a lie.

I think the issue may be that inflation in dc has outpaced national inflation. We were driving through rural west Pennsylvania recently and stopped at a McDonalds and the food was noticeably cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost everything we actually buy has significantly outstripped inflation.

Education
Housing
Food (grocery and eating out)
Cars, Transportation, Hotels

It’s ALL gone up way faster than official CPI numbers. CPI is junk. The only things I can think of that haven’t outstripped inflation over the past 20 yrs are computers and gasoline maybe.

I make 300k now and according to CPI it should be equal to a ~186k salary in 2004. A more accurate figure imo is to look at Big Mac prices, back then a Big Mac was $2.39, and according to the McDonald’s app I can buy one for $5.59 today.

This means my $300k income is actually $126k in 2004 Big Mac dollars. This is definitely how things feel, low 100k’s back then was the benchmark for being comfortable and now it’s more like 300. 1M you could start thinking about retiring back then but now you need ~3M.

CPI is a lie.

I think the issue may be that inflation in dc has outpaced national inflation. We were driving through rural west Pennsylvania recently and stopped at a McDonalds and the food was noticeably cheaper.

This is true. Big Mac prices can even vary a lot within the DMV. I never buy just the sandwich, only the meal, but some places it's $10+ and others it's under $9, which I'm guessing reflects the sandwich cost.

[Anonymous]

Well gee who controls those prices?

Republican morons think Biden.

Nope CEO's and they get big fat bonuses to boot.

Republicans are idiots. Maybe if they paid taxes on those monies things would be different.

Prices have gone up since supply chain issues of covid and gee wiz which Repukes own those companies?

[Anonymous]

Let's go Brandon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well gee who controls those prices?

Republican morons think Biden.

Nope CEO's and they get big fat bonuses to boot.

Republicans are idiots. Maybe if they paid taxes on those monies things would be different.

Prices have gone up since supply chain issues of covid and gee wiz which Repukes own those companies?

Most CEOs these days are woke Democrat voting liberals, or at least they pretend to be.

[Anonymous]

I think it's undisputed that food prices for most items have increased at a much greater rate than inflation. The reason your method fails is because food is a relatively small part of the inflation calculation. Things like cars and housing make up a much larger share of most people's budgets.

[Anonymous]

Why are so many people flying overseas? Air fares are lower than 20 years ago.
Why are people buying 84” TVs? Look at the prices.

I agree that CPI is not a fair measure but when you order dinner via Uber Eats the food premium versus menu price is huge plus you pay for delivery.

[Anonymous]

I always thought they were talking about Big Mac Meal. BMM was $3.18 plus tax in 1997 as I remember.

[Anonymous]

A Big Mac varies by state from $3.81 to $5.60.

Where did you get your 2004 price?

[Anonymous]

Computers, nearly all electronics, airfares, telephone calls (remember those used to cost something), clothes….those are just some of the items off the top of my head that have increased less than inflation or actually cost nominally less today vs 2004.

[Anonymous]

Agree. They have to gloss over the fact that printing all this money for nonsensical government crap is highly inflationary.

[Anonymous]

Correct. Look at the work of John Williams at shadowstats.com. He runs the inflation numbers using the government’s own methodology that was used pre-1980. This shows that in 2022, inflation actually peaked at around 17%, not 9% as we’ve been told.

Following the massive inflation of the 1970s, the government statisticians got together and determined that, “You know what? It turns out we’ve been calculating inflation all wrong and that the true numbers are actually lower! Isn’t that great news?!” Among the changes they have made since then are that home prices are no longer used in calculating the CPI. Now they use a nonsense metric called “owner’s equivalent rent,” which is basically just a survey question where they call random homeowners and ask how much they think they could rent their house for if they decided to do so. This was ostensibly done to remove the investment component of housing and focus only on the shelter cost, but the true reason was to be able to manipulate the numbers — imagine in the modern, data-driven world collecting information in this manner.

So, yes, basically just double the CPI and that will give you a more accurate assessment of the true inflation rate. And if you are shocked that the government would behave in this manner, wait until you hear about what’s going on in today’s “booming job market.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Correct. Look at the work of John Williams at shadowstats.com. He runs the inflation numbers using the government’s own methodology that was used pre-1980. This shows that in 2022, inflation actually peaked at around 17%, not 9% as we’ve been told.

Following the massive inflation of the 1970s, the government statisticians got together and determined that, “You know what? It turns out we’ve been calculating inflation all wrong and that the true numbers are actually lower! Isn’t that great news?!” Among the changes they have made since then are that home prices are no longer used in calculating the CPI. Now they use a nonsense metric called “owner’s equivalent rent,” which is basically just a survey question where they call random homeowners and ask how much they think they could rent their house for if they decided to do so. This was ostensibly done to remove the investment component of housing and focus only on the shelter cost, but the true reason was to be able to manipulate the numbers — imagine in the modern, data-driven world collecting information in this manner.

So, yes, basically just double the CPI and that will give you a more accurate assessment of the true inflation rate. And if you are shocked that the government would behave in this manner, wait until you hear about what’s going on in today’s “booming job market.”

This is an obviously economically sound reason. The investment value of real estate is investment, not consumption. Imagine in the modern, data-driven world *not* collecting data in this manner.