Ask HN: Does CPI Hide Inflation
If my fast food burger is the same price, but the meat is worse quality, smaller, and contains filler, hasn't the dollar lost value against the baseline quality burger of past times? Since value is relative, how can you claim a stable dollar, when you're comparing it to an unstable food product.
If I buy my jeans for the same price as I always have but they wear out twice as fast (which I find they do now), haven't they actually gotten twice as expensive. Is product lifetime accounted for in CPI in anyway, and if not isn't it hiding inflation?