This distrust of “politicians’ and public institutions (plus ‘the media”) is half of what’s eating away democracies all over the world. Actual corruption goes unpunished because “they are all corrupt” is easily turned from a cynical accusation into an excuse. Bitcoin is turning coal into flooding because people are afraid of the monetary crises of the 1920s (hyperinflation) and spooked by even the silliest conspiracy myths (“the FED is a private bank”).

So, yes, measures of inflation aren’t perfect. But it’s “not perfect” in the most trivial sense: even some well-chosen single item (Big Mac?) gets you a measure of inflation that will be close enough most of the time. The actual basket improves it from maybe 90 % perfect to 98 %.