This morning Stephanie Ruhle made a great point about the CPI ...

[aggiesal]

The report this morning shows the CPI grew at 2.3% year over year, the most since September 2008, sparking inflation worries.

At this time last year, we were 7+ weeks into a shutdown with no socializing or spending.
Everything came to a grinding halt.

Stephanie Ruhle is smart.
She used the 2019 numbers to compare against the 2021 numbers and this showed that there was little change.

All 2021 numbers will be out of wack when compared to 2020, so we should be using the 2019 numbers.

This is very smart, on her part. I haven't heard anyone else do this.
2020 is an anomaly.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. No. We should not change methods just because we're unhappy with this month's results.

People understand the concept of long-term trends.

[aggiesal]

3. It's more realistic ...

I don't know what the CPI was at this point last year, but
I'm willing to bet it was very negative from the previous year.

2020 was an anomaly, we should be using apples to apples, not apples to dried fruit.

[Dawson Leery]

2. kick

[spanone]

4. K&R

[Make7]

5. The BLS report states 4.2% year over year, but that is comparing to a temporary dip.

If you compare to 2019, it is 2.2% per year. Considering the Federal Reserve has stated in the past that their goal for inflation is 2.0% a year, this doesn't appear to be the problem some are making it out to be.

Prices are going up, but things are still out of whack due to Covid. We probably need things to be closer to normal before drawing conclusions.

[aggiesal]

7. Stephanie Ruhle mentioned 4.2% on her show this morning ...

but an earlier post on the CPI in this DU forum mentioned 2.3%, so that's what I ran with.

Looking at your chart, I believe Stephanie Ruhle is correct.
Compare it against 2019's numbers.

[yonder]

6. KnR.

[Midnight Writer]

8. I had a shock comparing the price of a mutual fund I own. Incredible return from last year.

Then I realized I was comparing April 1, 2020 with April 1, 2021.

Still a nice return, but putting it in perspective dampened my excitement.

[aggiesal]

9. Personally, I believe that 2020 was such an anomaly ...

that we should only use 2020 as a point of interest, but
compare against 2019 as a better reading.