Poll of the Day Recap: Don’t Trust Uncle Sam’s Inflation Numbers

04/03/14 04:37PM EDT

Who hasn’t felt “breakfast sticker shock” in recent weeks with the price of coffee, pork, and bacon all on the rise? Fact: food prices have surged in 2014. The CRB Foodstuffs Index? It’s up almost 20% year-to-date and up 7.5% year-over-year. But according to the government, inflation remains muted.

So, what we wanted to know in today’s poll is, Do you trust the U.S. government’s inflation numbers? 

Apparently there’s not a whole lot of trust out there.

At the time of this post, a staggering 87.5% responded NO; 12.5% said YES.


(Voters sharply swung so much in one way, that we didn’t receive any comments on why people voted YES.)

Here’s a sampling of some of the responses we received:

  • "When an entity has both the incentive to manipulate reality and all the tools to affect change, no good can come from that situation. Ever."
  • "First, the methodology for calculating "official" inflation is flawed beyond credibility. Second, the government has a vested interest in the inflation game, so their numbers are suspect… Finally, a trip to the grocery store, the gas pump, or the doctor's office puts the lie to all of the official numbers. The only real question remaining, then, is how does this Fed/Treasury/Government/Old Wall Street game play out? How does it end? Accelerated inflation? Inflation then deflation? The real markets running away from Fed control?"
  • "The government bastardized (most governments on the planet) this statistic long ago to save money, control sentiment (Propaganda) and create their own reality.  It takes about one brain cell to see this after watching their actions for 30 years.  They are scared stiff of people thinking the 1970's could happen all over again or something similar. Too late, the deed has been done and nothing can stop the ‘momo’ so brace yourself to pay the price over the next few years, maybe next few decades."
  • "I don't think that the government is using an adequate measure of inflation. In my world I see wage stagflation and price appreciation specifically on government run agencies and utilities.  Purchasing power is decreasing daily."
  • "It is probably not possible to measure inflation accurately and one would have to be naïve to see the motivation to under report.  Why does the bond market believe it?"

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