The groceries I'm buying now for $4.79 now were $2.49 in 2019. Roughly 90% overall inflation rate for everything I buy since 2019. That being said I decided not to change my habits and preferences - but it's hurting to say the least.
Yeah those are all up too. Thankfully, those don't count either. TV's are cheap though!
I did not interpret it that way. I interpreted that as trying to imply a breadth of cost increase that was not true, so I was trying to call that out.
If we interpret it that way, then I might not have replied, this comment does a better job: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38281712 But I might have pointed out that "groceries" is a pretty narrow view on inflation.
The government has always been incentivized to make inflation numbers lower than they are. There have been numerous changes to CPI methodology, many in just the last few years. Hedonistic adjustments are questionable at best.
Moreover: inflation is a gradient, not a singular vector. You will experience inflation differently depending on where you are in that gradient. Reporting a single number for inflation is about as useful as reporting a single number for the temperature of the planet.
30% is a lot! But it is what the CPI numbers imply for food, and it's more accurate than "feels like." or "these few things went up 100% so everything went up 100%."
Feelings are important, but they are not the reality, and they don't imply a government conspiracy.
I think it’s obvious why Americans are upset about that change — and the government lying to them about the problem.
That's like saying "the government is lying when they say the fire is out, because I saw that the building is still burned and hasn't been repaired."
Where did the government say that?
But not on average.