What are they hiding from us?

[sheenshane]

I'm not pretty sure if I could say that they are hiding something from us if we barely know that inflation of more or less 1% does really happen in any commodities including services.  The mere fact that this always happens every year or even monthly I think it will be difficult for each inflation on commodities to be posted on all sites like Amazon, Walmart and etc. 

Just to justify the changes in their price.  I understand OP where you coming from but even our ancestors from the past already experienced this and none of them were able to manage to change this because any changes that have something to do with the other that also affects you then you need to make an adjustment for you to survive just like on a specific product if the material or the recipe has changed on the supply then definitely you will have an adjustment too on your product either by increasing or decreasing or maintaining its price but you will have changes on the size.

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[The Sceptical Chymist]

that’s include rent, house price, land price, tax rate, food price, loan rate, land price, everything price on everything 1%!!!

I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't had a rent increase in over 5 years.  Gas prices are lower than they have been in a long time (remember 2006-2009?), and though I have noticed the price of some things going up I don't get the sense that inflation is rampant, out of control, or even that high. 

1%?  I don't know, maybe.  The government measures inflation a certain way, and the average citizen can verify if that measured rate is correct or not.  The problem is mainly that the "basket of goods" that they use doesn't include a lot of important things that might be getting more expensive than what the reported interest rate is.

What are they hiding from us?  Who knows.  Probably everything--and if they're hiding it, it's hard to know what's being hidden, is it not?

[DoublerHunter]

^ I don't think that the government is not hiding anything in fact when they said inflation of 1% annually they are already giving us a heads up that we should always expect a gradual price increase or decrease on commodities and services. The government educated us already for these changes but like this pandemic where everyone has been impacted we just need to understand that inflation will be often and people need to adjust for us to cope in this economic recession. Nevertheless, just try to think that we are just helping our economy to recover from this global recession.

[Ucy]

There are so many ways to manipulate inflation figures.  It's ridiculous.  The latest ploy is to lower food standards, so they can charge the same or more for the food but use ingredients that are cheaper because they were produced under worse hygiene standards. Before that, we had "shrinkflation" where they charged the same or more, but made the portions smaller.  Clearly no one should be taking any government's "official" figures too seriously.

Not just hygiene but mainly the quality/realness of the foods or products. If for example a small bottle of olive oil was $20 5years ago, demand goes up, price would go up if producers are unable to meet the demand. A desperate producer who is under pressure to keep the price stable & remains competitive would start selling cheap oil that is similar to olive, or will mix real olive with cheap non-olive oil to maintain the price.
Other examples are:
* using red artificial color & fruit flavor to make red wine in place of real quality wine.
*Adding yeast to bread to make smaller bread swell and look big/bigger.
* Creating lab grown meat (probably still experimental)
* GMOs in place of Non-GMOs
Etc

[slapper]

What is the point of hiding the inflation rate? Even though the government may perform badly in your country, it does not mean that they do not care about the economy or some sort of that. They are trying their best to make the economy stable and no matter how vigorous they try, inflation is inevitable. You have to accept the fact that our living world somehow needs inflation so that it can balance our normal life. That is why bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are created for not only deflation but also for advanced technologies

Blaming the government is waste of time. Instead of that, you should find a way to escape the reality where inflation always exists. That is why right now, we have bitcoin, ethereum, etc. Investing is also a method of anti-inflation. Be smart guys. We have already lived in the 4.0 world. Your power is limitless and it is indeed that you can access anywhere, anyplace for any purpose.

[exstasie]

I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't had a rent increase in over 5 years.

Different markets are different. Plus, some landlords rarely raise the rent. The rent I pay is up almost 60% in 5 years. Granted, I live in a slightly nicer unit now (in a shittier neighborhood in the same city) but it's mostly a reflection of the ongoing real estate bubble.

What are they hiding from us?  Who knows.  Probably everything--and if they're hiding it, it's hard to know what's being hidden, is it not?

They obviously have incentives to downplay inflation to keep it within publicly acceptable levels, so we should probably assume they are doing exactly that.

[iv4n]

"What are they hiding from us?" Answer on this question in the 21st century is NOTHING! They don't hide anything, they're bombarding us with more information than ever, so when you look at everything around, you don't know what is true and what's not! People argue because they think that the dog is black or white, and in a fact you have black and white dogs, like it's important which color it is!

Gas prices are lower than they have been in a long time (remember 2006-2009?)

Exstasie quoted you on rent, I will on gas! In my place the price was 0.4 euros per liter, now its 1.3 euros per liter! In one moment it was over 1.5 euros before this crisis!

Instead of that, you should find a way to escape the reality

Everything else you wrote is not important as this line! Find a way to escape the reality, yea man! Find a way to beat this reality on every field! Well I will give you an answer, on some fields you will need alcohol and drugs, on others you will need crypto! Spiritually or physically, you will need a right weapon to fight against it!

[deisik]

There are so many ways to manipulate inflation figures.  It's ridiculous.  The latest ploy is to lower food standards, so they can charge the same or more for the food but use ingredients that are cheaper because they were produced under worse hygiene standards.  Before that, we had "shrinkflation" where they charged the same or more, but made the portions smaller.  Clearly no one should be taking any government's "official" figures too seriously

But what's the point?

Okay, we can assume for a moment that the official figures are way off the mark compared to real inflation rates. But even if it is possible to fool the public for a year or two, it won't be possible for a decade or so as the errors will necessarily be adding up and discrepancies accumulating over the years. In short, the effect would the opposite of the desired (to make it look like everything is okey-dokey economically). I'm not saying that governments aren't fabricating the stats as they all apparently do but not in the way most people seem to assume

[Johnyz]

They said inflation rate is about 1%
Do you think anyone will believe it’s really 1% since may be 200 years ago??
Then for a 200 years to inflated price by thrice is pretty good.
What give?? What are they hiding?

Maybe hiding something so it didn’t create a panic in the market, we really don’t know not unless an economist states here the real number of inflation in your country. Well, considering the number of economist I’m sure they believe that the real number of inflation is out in the market and some of them are honest, 200 years ago is quiet impossible to back track, maybe we just need to focus on the current situation and the current inflation rate.

[DooMAD]

But even if it is possible to fool the public for a year or two, it won't be possible for a decade or so as the errors will necessarily be adding up and discrepancies accumulate over years.

If that were true, people would be looking at the difference between last few years and now and wouldn't be fooled to begin with.  It's not like we get to pretend the prices increases we've already experienced haven't happened and that this is some new and sudden phenomenon.

[deisik]

But even if it is possible to fool the public for a year or two, it won't be possible for a decade or so as the errors will necessarily be adding up and discrepancies accumulate over years.

If that were true, people would be looking at the difference between last few years and now and wouldn't be fooled to begin with.  It's not like we get to pretend the prices increases we've already experienced haven't happened and that this is some new and sudden phenomenon

I'm not sure if I got your perspective right

Regardless, if what you say comes down to governments substantially lowering inflation rates for years, if not decades, we could look at the historical prices of some foods as they were, say, 15 years ago, check the official inflation rates for every year of this period of 15 years, and then easily calculate how much that basket of goods should be worth today according to the government figures

If these stats were all wrong throughout these years (to the downside), the difference between today's real prices that you actually see in the mall and the official "inflation-adjusted" prices that you worked out on paper would be huge and impossible to hide. That's how I understand it

[el kaka22]

People do have different expenses from each other and that is what matters to their own finances, nations however can't care if you are right or the other person is right so they make the calculation based on whatever they feel like is the most commonly used things, including simple stuff like bread and milk etc but also things like a house or a car as well.

Not having a rent increase in 5 years is quite rare thing by the way, it is not like everyone is like that, depending on where you live, you usually get around 2-3% increase and if not you may get like 5% per 3 years or so, but there are places with no rent increase or there are places with insane and illegal (have to sue first) increases as well so I can't say what is the average.

Just check your bank app and see what you spend on 2019 November and check what you spend on this month and see the difference, when you remove unexpected rare things, common things should give you an idea on how much your costs have increased.

[Broly46]

"What are they hiding from us?" Answer on this question in the 21st century is NOTHING! They don't hide anything, they're bombarding us with more information than ever, so when you look at everything around, you don't know what is true and what's not! People argue because they think that the dog is black or white, and in a fact you have black and white dogs, like it's important which color it is!

Gas prices are lower than they have been in a long time (remember 2006-2009?)

Exstasie quoted you on rent, I will on gas! In my place the price was 0.4 euros per liter, now its 1.3 euros per liter! In one moment it was over 1.5 euros before this crisis!

Instead of that, you should find a way to escape the reality

Everything else you wrote is not important as this line! Find a way to escape the reality, yea man! Find a way to beat this reality on every field! Well I will give you an answer, on some fields you will need alcohol and drugs, on others you will need crypto! Spiritually or physically, you will need a right weapon to fight against it!

Yeah, tell that to Julian assamge that all his works on wiki leaks is a work of frustration, because nothing his leaks is hidden from public knowledges, I think he wouldn’t ascend with that’s answer.

[bits4books]

Do not forget that this is a calculation of many indicators, not just two or three. This includes not only a rise in the price of any product, but also an increase in the buyer's salary. You understand that if yesterday you received $ 1 / hour and the Burger cost $ 1, then if today you get $ 1.5 / hour and the Burger costs $ 1.5 an hour, then nothing has actually changed?
And based on an incredibly large number of indicators, such charts of 1-2% inflation are formed.

[iv4n]

...

Yeah, tell that to Julian assamge that all his works on wiki leaks is a work of frustration, because nothing his leaks is hidden from public knowledges, I think he wouldn’t ascend with that’s answer.

I see your point, and in my opinion Julian Assange proved what everyone already knew! We know that civilians are killed in every war, just because it's US it doesn't make any difference, they are responsible for many deaths across the world, deaths of innocent people! And of course the US government is responsible for many other bad things, but it's basically it's the same what many other governments do! I like to believe that a man can live with eyes wide opened, and the one who see knows that injustice happens all the time across the world. We all know that, that truth can't be hidden, I guess some people need concrete proofs and facts to be able to register that and to try to open their eyes! Sadly Julian Assange didn't make a big difference by exposing facts, like many other journalists who did the same thing in their own countries (many of them got killed).

[jaysabi]

The question should be what are they talking about inflation at 1%, are they expecting us to hallucinating some magical number out of the dust,  and eventually everything, EVERYTHING, that’s include rent, house price, land price, tax rate, food price, loan rate, land price, everything price on everything 1%!!!

It's an average increase... Not everything goes up by a stable amount or at the same time.

For example https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/l55o/mm23 uses a indice to track how much the average retail cost reflects on consumers afaik.

In the US we have a similar index to track consumer inflation, but the "basket of goods" they track isn't always very indicative of what people are consuming most, especially during the pandemic when consumer behaviors have deviated greatly from the norm. 

[StyleForceOne]

Anything that the government pumps money into inflates insanely: healthcare, schooling, and housing are all prime examples. To say things have only inflated a nominal amount every year is wrong because the majority of people where doing better 50 years ago than the majority of people today

But thats not true. What is the data to back thigs you say up?
Perhaps, middle class was living better than current middle class now.
however, amount of people in middle class in terms of percentage is way better now.

[FanEagle]

The data that you could definitely go look for would be the minimum salary and car prices and house prices and school prices. If you look at food prices they are somehow better, they grew lesser than the inflation so right now buying a gallon of milk today is cheaper than buying a gallong of milk 50 years ago, maybe not in price but it is definitely better versus inflation.

However if you look at someone who worked a minimum salary regular mcdonalds work, look at a house 50 years ago and today, look at a brand new car price and today, and look at how much college cost 50 years ago and today, you can see the differences in these things that basically doesn't even come close to inflation rates that was given. Drop these into understandable levels, just these three (house+car+school) and you get yourself a better world. Healthcare was always expensive, that needs something else, I wouldn't know what but something else.

[petyang12]

I thought the inflation rate is around 1.5-3%. They may have a reason for it if they really are hiding something. It may cause panic buying if they will know the price will increase time by time before people can no longer afford especially the poor.

[deisik]

However if you look at someone who worked a minimum salary regular mcdonalds work, look at a house 50 years ago and today, look at a brand new car price and today, and look at how much college cost 50 years ago and today, you can see the differences in these things that basically doesn't even come close to inflation rates that was given. Drop these into understandable levels, just these three (house+car+school) and you get yourself a better world. Healthcare was always expensive, that needs something else, I wouldn't know what but something else

Today's prices for homes reflect a huge speculative element in them

I don't know how it was 50 years ago, but as I'm inclined to think, the speculation wasn't as rampant as it is today in this sector. My point is essentially that it is a daunting task to compare virtually any class of goods (e.g. cars) without taking into account a whole host of factors affecting prices that are a) not related to inflation (e.g. technological improvements) and b) heavily skewing and distorting direct comparisons up to a point of making them mostly or completely useless