Not defending by any means, but one of the many great "advancements" that the Clinton administration introduced to the federal government was the "substitution" theory.
The "idea" was that keeping a static "basket of goods" in the inflation measure was "unrealisitic" because people, being faced with an astronomical increase in the price of a single item - say "swiss chard", would then "substitute" that item in the basket for something cheaper, say "iceburg lettuce", and that action should be reflected in the measure of inflation. This was done with the intention of lowering the COLA (cost of living adjustment) given to social security recipients in the face of inflating prices.
Theree have been many "adjustments" to the "basket" over the ensuing forty years, Grapes go up? Substitute "oranges". The idea was to eliminate spikes from "temporary" changes in price, due to a bad crop or whatever.
But anyone with a right mind and any skepticism at all of the federal government knew what that real goal was. Keep changing the goods to loeer the "official" rate of inflation and thus lower the "COLAs".
Way back then, some people continued to publish the rate with the constant basket of items, but eventually they gave up.
By the way, the "unemployment rate" was similarly affected by the Clinton administration when the rate of "number of employed" was changed from "those who are jobless" to "those who are actively seeking work an remain jobless", also in an effort to adjust damaging government statistics to something more palatable to the proletariat. The fake "unemployment rate" lives today.
rinbaum / Stephan Rinbaum
npub1l4…dl0g0
2024-05-13 03:03:41
in reply to nevent1q…dnu6
Author Public Key
npub1l45wqz79nexmtu79lv5up74e3mjwxnntpd6pxs7pzgu0vp33w32s7dl0g0Published at
2024-05-13 03:03:41Event JSON
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"content": "Not defending by any means, but one of the many great \"advancements\" that the Clinton administration introduced to the federal government was the \"substitution\" theory.\n\nThe \"idea\" was that keeping a static \"basket of goods\" in the inflation measure was \"unrealisitic\" because people, being faced with an astronomical increase in the price of a single item - say \"swiss chard\", would then \"substitute\" that item in the basket for something cheaper, say \"iceburg lettuce\", and that action should be reflected in the measure of inflation. This was done with the intention of lowering the COLA (cost of living adjustment) given to social security recipients in the face of inflating prices.\n\nTheree have been many \"adjustments\" to the \"basket\" over the ensuing forty years, Grapes go up? Substitute \"oranges\". The idea was to eliminate spikes from \"temporary\" changes in price, due to a bad crop or whatever.\n\nBut anyone with a right mind and any skepticism at all of the federal government knew what that real goal was. Keep changing the goods to loeer the \"official\" rate of inflation and thus lower the \"COLAs\".\n\nWay back then, some people continued to publish the rate with the constant basket of items, but eventually they gave up.\n\nBy the way, the \"unemployment rate\" was similarly affected by the Clinton administration when the rate of \"number of employed\" was changed from \"those who are jobless\" to \"those who are actively seeking work an remain jobless\", also in an effort to adjust damaging government statistics to something more palatable to the proletariat. The fake \"unemployment rate\" lives today.",
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