Brownstone Research
https://www.brownstoneresearch.com/
Shadow Stats
http://www.shadowstats.com
Today the CPI (Consumer Price Index), the official government inflation index for June of 2022 came in at a higher than expected 9.1%. Yes, that’s bad and higher than anticipated. However, if the CPI was calculated using the same formula as it used in 1980, today’s inflation rate would be 17%. That calculation comes from John Williams of ‘ShadowStats’. That is a 41 year high. Based on the 1980 formula its’ 17.3%…a 75 year high. In 1980, the average inflation rate for the year was 13.5%.
One of the reasons for this IMHO is that if the real inflation rate was used, that would mandate larger increases for programs such as Social Security and anything else that adjusts according the inflation rate. An honest calculation would put additional pressure on the bottom line of the federal government.
In April of 2021 the inflation rate started rising coming in at 4.2%. The last time it was anywhere near this was in 2008 during the final year of the George W. Bush administration when the yearly average was 3.8%. In 2011 during the Barack Obama era, the average CPI rate came in at 3.2%. Otherwise, it has been significantly lower since 2008, mostly averaging under 2%.
Don’t believe the nonsense that inflation is President Biden’s fault. It’s the fault of both parties but more so the Federal Reserve. And Biden’s attempt to blame inflation on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is also nonsense. The CPI has been soaring since April 2021, well before Putin’s invasion and just a few months into the Biden Administration. So, yes, politicians on both sides seem unable to level with the American people about anything. And, yes, the Republicans will probably successfully use inflation to destroy the Democrats just as they did to Jimmy Carter… a bogus argument again but one that will probably help distract from their cowardice in failing to cast aside Donald Trump, the first treasonous President in US History who attempted to stop the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden, the clear winner of the 2020 election…as confirmed by the fact that over 60 US Judges threw out all lawsuits claiming election fraud…because all those lawsuits were based on crazy unsubstantiated lies with zero evidence to back up those claims.
Meanwhile, the consumer is getting screwed as a result of the inflationary policies of the Federal Reserve.