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Well, they are doing their best to keep energy and housing out of the inflation statistics in various places.

So, I guess it depends on how much energy and housing matter to you... ;-)

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Wed May 3rd, 2006 at 07:39:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Even beyond that, they are cooking the books.

But help me out here. Property values have been going up by about 10% per year for a few years now [I just happened to deduce from the council tax booklet I got from the borough the alleged 1991 value of the property I rent, and compared with the current local prices...], so the mortgage payments for a newly blught property have been going up by the same amount (roughly) so rent payments for equivalent properties have also been going up by 10% a year. And about 1/3 of people's after-tax income is taken by housing expenses, so there goes over 3% inflation. Am I wrong?

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed May 3rd, 2006 at 07:45:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, of course you're not wrong in principle.

But, I would guess that the cooking involves some sleight of hand about the amount of after-tax income spent on housing. That presumably is the key assumption.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Wed May 3rd, 2006 at 08:49:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
There is something definitely not right about assuming that people spend 1/3 of their income on housing and that 1/3 fraction remains constant... Unless people are also downsizing their living quarters to keep their housing expenses within bounds, which is a definite possibility.

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed May 3rd, 2006 at 08:52:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Ah, but surely the downsizing only works properly in the rental sector (and even then there are contract restrictions.) If you are paying back a mortgage, your flexiblity to downsize is limited by the ease of selling your house?
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Wed May 3rd, 2006 at 09:13:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Your mortgage payments are fixed and not affected by inflation (again, to a first approximation).

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed May 3rd, 2006 at 09:46:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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