The WSJ’s blog reported that the ‘statistical magicians’ turned a actual 6.5 percent fuel price increase into a small decline.
... Using an overly aggressive seasonal adjustment factor, the statistical magicians turned an actual 6.5% surge in gasoline prices into a small decline. I wonder if they can read the minds of very skeptical American motorists who are not fooled by this statistical sleight of hand! And like any good magician, the statisticians will make higher gasoline prices reappear with a vengeance over the summer months as the statistical magic trick runs in reverse making reported gasoline prices magically increase while prices at the pump decrease. –PNC
WSJ's blog link
I wonder why this adjustment had to be 'overly aggressive'?
It is likely that folks no longer will be fooled by what I’ve called the ‘Politics of Prestidigitation’.
Also, I’d like to get something straight. The core inflation rate is artificially suppressed by excluding those items which must be purchased, like food and fuel while including many extraneous items like electronics and automobiles. Even though food and fuel costs have been soaring, the core rate appears OK.
The electronics and autos are not made in this country in the numbers they were at one time. We’ve lost those jobs. Now those consumer goods, made elsewhere by foreigners with jobs Americans no longer have, are imported and their low prices used to suppress the reported rate of inflation felt by the Americans who’ve lost their good-paying jobs. The irony would be delicious if the impact were not so severe.