> As such it can be used as a measuring stick to judge how distorted prices are getting
It can. It would just be a pretty bad idea to use it for that since it would indicate that prices where consistently falling during the 80s and 90s amongst other. I mean the nominal price of gold in 1980 was exactly the same as in 2007... I can barely think of a worse measuring stick (we could just use the price of oil instead? It's hardly less stable).
> inflation is measured by the government as a relative change in a cherry-picked basket of goods that changes over time
perhaps. Seems fairly tangential, unless you're implying that governments generally tend to severely underreport inflation most of the time.
You're right I guess. The price of gold is manipulated heavily by the banks so it is not a perfect measuring device. There is literally a Federal Reserve memo on Wikileaks describing how the government would create FUD about gold through the futures market. But the supply of it is nevertheless fairly constant compared to just about anything. People have remarked that an ounce of gold today buys about the same as it did thousands of years ago. I think they are right. The price of oil is clearly less stable than the price of gold. You could do better if you compared many goods in a basket, perhaps, but you just can't trust the government to do it right.
>perhaps. Seems fairly tangential, unless you're implying that governments generally tend to severely underreport inflation most of the time.
Yes that is exactly what I'm implying (or stating directly). I am mainly talking about the US government because I don't know how other governments calculate their rates, but it is probably about the same everywhere. I think in recent times you could do well by doubling their number.
The US government also misrepresents unemployment. For example, if an unemployed engineer gets a job at Starbucks one day a week while applying for a new gig, he is not counted as unemployed anymore. He is also not counted if he is unemployed for any longer than 6 months. Perhaps we need to report them all as unemployed along with the median time to get a job, and/or have a separate number for skilled workers that does not exclude them if they are forced to take an inadequate job.
It can. It would just be a pretty bad idea to use it for that since it would indicate that prices where consistently falling during the 80s and 90s amongst other. I mean the nominal price of gold in 1980 was exactly the same as in 2007... I can barely think of a worse measuring stick (we could just use the price of oil instead? It's hardly less stable).
> inflation is measured by the government as a relative change in a cherry-picked basket of goods that changes over time
perhaps. Seems fairly tangential, unless you're implying that governments generally tend to severely underreport inflation most of the time.