The purpose of the consumer price index ((CPI)) is to reflect just how much inflation is eating into both our incomes and our savings. Consumer inflation has been estimated since the 1700s by measuring price changes in a fixed-weight basket of goods. This method was seen as a way of measuring the cost of maintaining a constant standard of living. In the past 30 years, a growing gap has become obvious between government reporting of inflation, as measured by the CPI, and the perception of actual inflation held by the general public.
Currently, the government