Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

Re:Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes by sandworm101 on Monday March 08, 2021 @09:38AM (#26386201)

>> Food prices are usually few percent (6-18% in the western countries) of total household expenses.

Maybe for rich people. If you have an income of 2000/month, with the first 1000 or so going to rent, food is likely your second largest expense.

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Re:Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes by em500 on Monday March 08, 2021 @10:06AM (#26386492)

Here are the most recent weights for official US CPI calculations: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/2020.htm

Housing is by far the largest component (42%) (contrary to the common misconception that housing is not in the CPI), followed by Food and Beverages (15%) and Transportation (15%). If you want to up-weight food, you must necessarily down-weight some other component. The prime candidate would be shelter (most other categories are already much smaller than food), but that's of course not the answer that CPI-doubters are looking for.

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Re:Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes by sandworm101 on Monday March 08, 2021 @10:18AM (#26386621)

But the CPI targets a generic US consumer. I would argue that poor people have a different priority list than the rich. The US economy is increasingly polarized with a widening gap between rich and poor.

I am curious as to whether the CPI targets the average person or the average consumer. Rich people spend more. They consumer more and are therefore overrepresented in most consumer-related measurements. Is the CPI meant as a measure of the cost of living or a tool for the calculation of available spending power?

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