Has anybody here ever heard of the Chapwood Index of true inflation?

[OnlinePoker]

I'll give their summary of their methodology and would be interested in criticisms of or agreements with this. They give a "true" inflation picture in 50 cities in the U.S.
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The Chapwood Index reflects the true cost-of-living increase in America. Updated and released twice a year, it reports the unadjusted actual cost and price fluctuation of the top 500 items on which Americans spend their after-tax dollars in the 50 largest cities in the nation.

It exposes why middle-class Americans — salaried workers who are given routine pay hikes and retirees who depend on annual increases in their corporate pension and Social Security payments — can’t maintain their standard of living. Plainly and simply, the Index shows that their income can’t keep up with their expenses, and it explains why they increasingly have to turn to the government for entitlements to bail them out.

It’s because salary and benefit increases are pegged to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which for more than a century has purported to reflect the fluctuation in prices for a typical “basket of goods” in American cities — but which actually hasn’t done that for more than 30 years.

http://www.chapwoodindex.com/

Here are the 500 items in their basket:

http://www.chapwoodindex.com/chapwood-index-items/

[msongs]

1. amazing how many of those things I do not buy, like maybe 3/4. and costco pays for itself

in lower gas prices in just a few months

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. A lot of the things on the list are not things anyone buys regularly.

I mean, how regularly does anyone purchase a paper towel holder, a hammer, a bed, a cocktail table, or an ironing board, just to name a few. Then there are the things many of us never purchase, like riding lessons, or country club fees, or a Town car rental.

I wonder just how that basket of 500 things, more than half of which are irrelevant to me, and for someone else a different half are things they never buy, I wonder how that can be construed as meaningful?

[EarnestPutz]

3. It's amazing what a complete list of ordinary purchases this is. There are many....

....things that I don't buy (maid service) but just read across the columns to get a feel for how diverse the list is. Pool accessories/carpet shampoo rental/girl scout cookies/cigar/batman figurine. Kindermusik lessons/tire balance/ perfume/toothpaste/ waterpark admission.With 500 things to be evaluated every six months, it must be pretty good data. Like the first two post have said, a lot of people do not buy some of thes items, but someone in the 50 cities is buying them and that's the cost of living there. If there are 500,000 people in city number 40, and in six months there are 350 skate boards sold at an average of 2% more that the year before, then that just becomes a small part of the calculation.

[Hoyt]

4. Honestly, I'm not as worried about the middle-class, except at lower end and lower.

The middle classe’s standard of living is pretty good, with exception of healthcare and safety net, compared to other countries.

Now, that index may also be applicable to lower income groups.

[safeinOhio]

5. Prices on junk is dropping big time at

yard sales.

[Mersky]

6. Seems fairly out of date, and untrustworthy.

Blockbuster rentals? Really. DVD players? Seriously!!?

Wish I hadn't clicked the link. Seems dubious Ed Butowski is behind the index.

I didn't stay on the list page for very long, but I'm wondering if it also mentions floppy discs?

The mix of brand name items with catch-all things like 'birthday parties' leads me to believe this isn't real. To me, it reads more like a bingo card for marketing word association.

What the heck is kindermusik lessons?

Don't give the site traffic.

[Jim__]

7. The list of items contains energy and food which the CPI doesn't.

I know that what I pay for food has risen substantially over the last 10 to 20 years. It always irritates me that energy and food are not included in the computation of inflation. I believe the reason they give is volatility in the price; but, you can dampen the effects of volatility in the computation without omitting the items altogether.

I think including food and energy adds credibility to the Chapwood Index.

[progree]

8. The CPI includes food and energy. The "core CPI" doesn't

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

The above talks about both, beginning with the regular CPI.

The mainstream media reports that I've seen almost always cover both, again beginning with the regular CPI.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. Well the chain CPI is now used for tax purposes

I suspect coming soon to social security near you.

I think constantly changing the basket of goods to determine inflation is not a reliable method to determine the rise in cost of living. So, a constant basket that includes food, energy and housing is more useful for tracking increases.

But let's face it the CPI has been changed not to really track price increases but to reduce increases in federal benefits.

[progree]

10. The chained CPI also includes food, energy, and housing. But yes, it's not a constant

basket of items, but what we buy is not constant either. My great grandfather bought horses and buggy whips, I don't.

Phones - we buy fewer landline phones, more "smart" phones.

Something basic like bread -- we buy less "white" bread and more high-fiber bread.

We buy less "raw" grocery store food and buy more prepared foods, food away from home, as well as home-delivered restaurant food and delivered meal kits.

Not sure how one keeps a "constant" basket when what people buy changes.

I think even the regular CPI weights the items in its "basket" in proportion to what people are actually buying.