Inflation and Government Lies

For the last two years, Social Security recipients were denied cost-of-living adjustments because of the systematic underreporting of inflation. The reason is that the government claims the cost of living didn’t go up. Seniors are justifiably pissed. They look at the cost of their food, medicine, fuel, etc. and the amount of money left at the end of the month and they know that the cost of living has gone up, even if the government says it hasn’t.

How can the government claim the cost of living hasn’t gone up compared to the reality we all feel in our wallets? That is an easy answer; the US government, to make inflation numbers look good, has simply changed the rules on how they calculate the cost of living. The people at Shadowstats.com have created this interesting graph. It compares the reported cost of living index by the government as now calculated, with the methodology used in 1980. The numbers don’t match.



Just look at the cost of commodities used in everyday products. Corn is up 45 percent in the last three months. Cotton prices have reached historic levels. Rice, sugar and soybeans are up. Oil is up. Gold, copper and silver are up. So are coffee and cocoa. Beef prices are up. Almost every commodity is up by double digits. All of these things are costing more yet the government claims inflation is low or non-existent. Is it any wonder that polls show that the people don’t trust politicians and that the approval rating for congress is at all time lows? There is no escaping the fact that our government is not to be trusted.

"John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics" is an electronic newsletter service that exposes and analyzes flaws in current U.S. government economic data and reporting, as well as in certain private-sector numbers, and provides an assessment of underlying economic and financial conditions, without financial-market and political hype. Visit Shadowstats.com and learn more.