We have commented here recently about the folly being perpetrated in some of the governmental reporting of statistics. The distortions have grown so obvious that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April reported a drop in the cost of energy based on seasonal adjustments. Add that to the continuing outrage of relying on the core number, which excludes food and energy.
While all of the major reports’ numbers can be challenged, the CPI is perhaps the worst offender as that number is used to adjust Gross Domestic Product and is the basis for cost of living adjustments in social security payments and often in private sector salary increases.
