Consumer Price Index & SS & Medicare

     Let me start with the statement from the article:

"Many economists argue that the chained CPI is more accurate because it assumes that as prices increase, consumers switch to lower cost alternatives, reducing the amount of inflation they experience."
For a bunch of educated people they sure are stupid! Things that it takes for people to live and have a basic quality of life are not "lower cost alternatives". Gasoline we pay what the stations charge and there are not "lower cost alternatives". Natural Gas & heating oil we pay what the rate is for the area we live in charges there are no "lower cost alternatives". Electricity is a controlled monopoly that we pay what is charged with no "lower cost alternatives". If I buy store brands of foods, household items I usually can't find a lower priced item, I am already at the "lower cost alternatives". If i had a home and refinanced it at the under 5% mortgage rates, I am already at the "lower cost alternatives". Medical care just keeps rising and there are no other "lower cost alternatives". Same for Rx there are no "lower cost alternatives", unless you are a guy named Dr Ezekiel Emanuel who would probably just let us die after age 70, because we are a burden to society and should not consume so much natural & man made resources.

     These educated idiots have stated "For example, if the price of beef increases while the price of pork does not, people will buy more pork. Here again is the stupidity! People who do not like pork and those whose religion prohibit the eating of said meat WON'T DUMBAS*ES. As you educated idiots know the price of beef and pork and poultry are all determined by the price and  AMOUNT OF ETHANOL produced in this country, not solely on supply & demand. Many of the income disadvantaged are already wearing sweaters and have the thermostat set at 68 or lower with no "lower cost alternatives." 

"If adopted across the government, fewer people would be eligible for many anti-poverty programs because the poverty level also would increase at a lower rate each year. That would result in fewer people living below the official poverty line, despite having the same income" (no they won't have the same income because they will loose to inflation and things like "Quantitative Easing") Does that statement seem odd to anyone (anyone who reads this)? "At a lower rate each year", that speaks volumes about the true feelings and lack of concern by Washington Politicians serving in the Congress.

     In educated circles where economists get around a table for lunch, this all makes such common sense to them. But it is just that lack of common sense which makes all this wrong. Since this would be the 3rd recalculation of the measure of inflation in the last 40 years no wonder the gape between the rich (>$1 million per year) and the remaining population is ever growing.