Thoughts on Inflation

As a consumer, I’d like to know how much more I need to spend over the same period of time for the same type of goods. So, if I’m needing to buy my basket of goods more frequently, that adds to the money I need to set aside for spending.

Really, I’d like inflation calculations to capture all three of the below:

• The price for the same goods goes up (the price of milk increases)
• The amount of the goods I get for the same price goes down (the size of individual toilet paper sheets shrinks)
• Something happens to force me to use more of the goods than I needed to before (the lotion pump pushes out more lotion in a single pump)

Both CPI and PCE miss the last two aspects.