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Comment by KingOfCoders | Hacker News Reader

The problem with hedonistic inflation calculation: Should it reflect how things get more expensive or reflect the level of living? There are two forces, one which wants to represent costs and one which wants to represent value.

It at least makes comparing GDP between countries most difficult, because everyone calculates inflation differently - usually the US has the biggest gains in GDP because it calculates inflation lowest.

Also: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

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I think there is a real thing happening there. Luxury things are going up astronomically. It's just not for the middle class anymore. A bunch of the population just won. They got to upper middle class and it's no big deal to spend a few thousand here and there. $500 meal etc. There's a huge divide and there just won't be home ownership or all sorts of things. It just for the highest bidders now and they somehow have 10x more than you.

I've noticed a strange phenomenon going on with myself. Prices in the HORECA have gone up so much on avearge than shelling out the extra money to have to enjoy the high end options. TO give a contrege example: a beer at my corner bar goes for €4.5 now. The Sofitel rooftop bar in town will have them at €5.

Cross country comparison should be based on PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), the amount that currency can purchase in the country.

Do they even add food and gas prices to core CPI?

yes. gas is included in the transportation group

Is it? I thought both it and food were excluded from the core index because their prices were too "volatile"

"Why Food and Energy Prices Are Excluded - Food and energy prices are exempt from this calculation because their prices can be too volatile or fluctuate wildly. Food and energy are necessary staples, meaning demand for them doesn't change much even as prices rise"

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/coreinflation.asp

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