Recognizing the increasing public unease over rising prices, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo took decisive action today, releasing a new inflation metric that excludes all consumer goods.
We reached out to a Commerce Department spokesperson who clarified “Americans today are more worried than ever about rising prices. While we already excluded the prices of things that affect Americans most like food, fuel and housing when calculating inflation, we realized our current metrics still showed that prices were increasing. To counter this we’re releasing the new CPI-Zero metric which tracks the price of nothing. We’re hopeful that this new metric of inflation will help consumers understand that we have no intention of addressing the root of the problem. In the first month of use the CPI-Zero metric has registered 0% inflation, which really should help give large corporations the cover they need to continue extracting windfall profits.”