https://dailycaller.com/2022/02/10/antoni-inflation-consumer-price-index-worse-than-appears/

ANTONI: Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes — Inflation Is Even Worse Than It Appears

The latest inflation report from the U.S. Department of Labor showed an acceleration in price increases, with the consumer-price index (CPI) rising 0.6% from December 2021 to January 2022. The annual increase, measured without seasonal adjustments, was 7.5% — a four-decade high. As troubling as these numbers are, the truly scary figure is hiding behind them.

A recent change in the computation of the CPI by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is downplaying inflation. In reality, the general level of prices rose 0.7% from December to January, not 0.6%. That may not sound like much, but it is the difference between an annual rate of 7.4% and 8.7% — a 1.3 percentage point deviation.

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The issue is not that the weights were adjusted — that is a sensible, normal process and has been the practice for years. The problem this time is that the BLS is using anomalous data that is likely a less-than-ideal representation of the typical urban consumer’s basket of goods and services today.

Eerily, it seems a sign of the times. This underestimation of inflation fits in well with an age of Orwellian newspeak, wherein the White House first denied there was inflation, then said inflation was transitory, then said inflation was good. One consequence of a lower headline number will be to provide some modicum of political cover to an administration which has been dogged by falling poll numbers in its handling of the economy.

But there is no numbers game that can hide the reality facing American consumers. The veil of an artificially low headline CPI number does not diminish the pain of filling a gas tank or buying groceries. It is only by virtue of a mathematical fluke that inflation appears lower than it really is. But if one peers at the formula behind the curtain, the illusion fades away and the disappointing reality is apparent.