SlopeCharts has access to an ungodly amount of economic data, and a side project of mine is to vastly improve the interface to that data to make it easier to discover. One thing I just “discovered” moments ago was something I had never heard of called the Flexible Price Consumer Price Index, which is something the U.S. Government records but doesn’t really mention. It tends to be a more honest reflection of true inflation, as opposed to the very-watered-down number that issue to the press (and whose calculation formula has been, I am not making this up, modified 19 times since the 1980s – – I am certain to keep the number as low as possible).
The Flexible Price CPI, however, is quite straightforward. It is described in this manner:
The Flexible Price Consumer Price Index (CPI) is calculated from a subset of goods and services included in the CPI that change price relatively frequently. Because flexible prices are quick to change, it assumes that when these prices are set, they incorporate less of an expectation about future inflation. Evidence suggests that this flexible price measure is more responsive to changes in the current economic environment or the level of economic slack.
I present to you here, without further comment (as it would be unnecessary) the chart going back as far as the data set has been recorded. Shield your eyes, Frank.
