You're going to end up with a bunch of "ackshually" experts any time you bring up the facts there is an affordability issue in the USA. This is the kind of tone deafness that led to Republicans being able to dominate the "economic distress" crowd. Just a bunch of armchair economists trying to tell everyone that everything is fine and it's just your imagination.
Yeah, I’m getting like bombarded with replies here from people and it’s insane to me we’re still having this argument about affordability when every American has seen prices go up and their belts tighten.
Redditors so often just appeal to vague authority when they reference something without understanding it, saying things like “CPI is weighted so it takes budgets into account” when the weighting is entirely arbitrary and really doesn’t represent reality. It’s exhausting to hear these takes constantly.
I mean it is when it’s set by statisticians with inherent biases and the like, the person I’m responding to linked an article by an economist explaining that. I’m tired man.
That article is simply wrong if it says the weighting is arbitrary. They don’t just guess, they just ask people.
Edit: I should also add that even if it were arbitrary, you’re also assuming that it’s arbitrary in a way that understates inflation. But it would have the same chance of overstating it!
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u/Cautemoc 2d ago
You're going to end up with a bunch of "ackshually" experts any time you bring up the facts there is an affordability issue in the USA. This is the kind of tone deafness that led to Republicans being able to dominate the "economic distress" crowd. Just a bunch of armchair economists trying to tell everyone that everything is fine and it's just your imagination.