1SG Private RallyPoint Member 293980 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Inflation is theft. And the official policy of the US government is to steal from you.<br /><br />It's also policy to lie to you.<br /><br />We measure inflation by the effect it has on prices. The figure that the government tracks is called the Consumer Price Index, or CPI. The CPI is lies. It is designed to hide a number of ills. Labor, for example is counted twice. Once as a line item and again in the cost of everything else--cost of labor is a component of the cost of the goods and services that labor produces. Energy and food, the things that people spend the most on, are not counted. So the government low-balls CPI as a matter of policy.<br /><br />We measure productivity in a figure called the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. In 2013, the government changed the way GDP is calculated. As one egregious example, the labor of actors in producing films and television is counted toward GDP. The labor of the actors is not a product. It is a cost in producing a product. The finished movie or show is a product. But because the entertainment industry is thriving, adding in this (large) cost it hides all the ways in which the US economy is not doing as well as it was, or as it might. And it'll work. As long as your favorite actor is paid a large salary, GDP will be strong, even if the movie bombs. So the government overstates GDP as a matter of policy.<br /><br />It is the official policy of the US government to lie to you. 2014-10-25T18:23:36-04:00 1SG Private RallyPoint Member 293980

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Inflation is theft. And the official policy of the US government is to steal from you.<br /><br />It's also policy to lie to you.<br /><br />We measure inflation by the effect it has on prices. The figure that the government tracks is called the Consumer Price Index, or CPI. The CPI is lies. It is designed to hide a number of ills. Labor, for example is counted twice. Once as a line item and again in the cost of everything else--cost of labor is a component of the cost of the goods and services that labor produces. Energy and food, the things that people spend the most on, are not counted. So the government low-balls CPI as a matter of policy.<br /><br />We measure productivity in a figure called the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. In 2013, the government changed the way GDP is calculated. As one egregious example, the labor of actors in producing films and television is counted toward GDP. The labor of the actors is not a product. It is a cost in producing a product. The finished movie or show is a product. But because the entertainment industry is thriving, adding in this (large) cost it hides all the ways in which the US economy is not doing as well as it was, or as it might. And it'll work. As long as your favorite actor is paid a large salary, GDP will be strong, even if the movie bombs. So the government overstates GDP as a matter of policy.<br /><br />It is the official policy of the US government to lie to you.

2014-10-25T18:23:36-04:00 2014-10-25T18:23:36-04:00 SGT Richard H. 293989

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Lying is almost a given in how the Government calculates and reports calculations. Want to talk about the term "Budget Surplus"?

2014-10-25T18:30:21-04:00 2014-10-25T18:30:21-04:00 SSgt Private RallyPoint Member 294040

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div><a class="dark-link bold-link" role="profile-hover" data-qtip-container="body" data-id="29149" data-source-page-controller="question_response_contents" href="/profiles/29149-25u-signal-support-systems-specialist-c-co-45th-bct-stb">1SG Private RallyPoint Member</a> Politicians use these terms liberally to their own advantage

2014-10-25T19:07:04-04:00 2014-10-25T19:07:04-04:00 2014-10-25T18:23:36-04:00