Why are inflation truthers so resistant to spending even the tiniest amount of time learning how inflation is computed instead of repeating nonsensical conspiracy theories that match their ideological priors? Replacing porterhouse with hanger steaks in the basket simply means giving the change in price of hanger steaks a higher weight than the change in price of porterhouse steaks in the basket. It does not mean recording the difference in price between a porterhouse and hanger steak as a decrease in the price index. If porterhouse and hanger steaks both go up by 5% then switching from porterhouse to hanger steaks will not lower inflation, even if hanger steaks are cheaper. And of course that’s the correct way to compute inflation, if people stop using typewriters and start using computers why would you still include typewriters in the consumer basket.

It’s not even true in general that the trend has been switching towards lower quality products. Despite all the ahistoric whining about how much better the old days were, Americans have gotten richer over the past several decades and have been buying bigger cars, dining out instead of eating at home, spending more on travel etc.