You tend to make some very black or white statements regarding what is generally a very grey area (econometrics, forecasting, etc.).
The CPI may have its flaws, but it is not useless (plus, how can something like the core CPI be *more* useless…). You have to understand that these statistics are designed to give general overviews, applicable to a broad swath of the public, and that your mileage may vary.
Just because it is not applicable to *you* does not mean it is a useless indicator for others, or in general. Would you say that the average height is a useless predictor, since it doesn’t indicate your exact height? Is the closing price of the SP500 useless to investors since it may not accurately weight and value your personal holdings? Should we abolish these general metrics and institute millions of spot-on indexes for each individual? I would venture to guess that the “powaysellerCPI” would be “more useless” to Daniel than the government’s version.
I do agree with the original thread topic. Rich people don’t use their arms – they pay people to do their heavy lifting… (groan…)
