Old Rant .... Again

I know I've talked about the crazy way the government measures inflation. Probably I've beat the subject to death. But the more I learn about the whole topic, the more absurd it is.

For instance. Did you know that the current method of measuring inflation, i.e. without food and energy, was developed during the hyperinflationary years of the 1970's? Sounds suspicious. The reasoning has been that food/energy are highly volatile and can disguise the "underlying" rate of "real" inflation. How about using a moving average then?

But I digress.

Barry Ritholtz has another of many great articles examing just how crazy the government's measure of inflation actually is. In this instance, he looks at how rent is calculated ... and you won't believe it.