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The Results Are In: The Price of Down Is Up

The Results Are In: The Price of Down Is Up

In a recent survey conducted by Miller's Money, they found that readers reported an average inflation rate of 8.07 percent. About 23 percent of readers believe that inflation is 11 percent or higher. Many readers shared their frustrating examples of the ever-increasing cost of living.

Dennis Miller
February 7, 2013
Miller's Money

Well, our inflation survey results are in. Thank you to everyone who participated, particularly those who shared frustrating examples of the ever-increasing cost of living. There were close to 100 pages of reader comments, and I read them all... every single word.

This week's column is primarily written by you, our loyal readers. You will recognize the reader comments as they are indented. Here is one example to get us started:

I bought a down jacket from L.L. Bean four years ago for $100. Today, that same jacket is $250. You know you have inflation when even the price of down is up!

The weighted average for our reader-reported inflation rate is 8.07%. We are rounding this to 8%, and calling it the Money Forever Reader Poll Inflation Rate. We will use this rate in examples and graphs throughout the year, along with the BLS Rate and the Shadow Government Statistics' alternate rate.

I know our rate is unscientific, but I trust our readers more than I trust the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Also, please note that Vedran Vuk will share some additional analysis tomorrow in the Casey Daily Dispatch. Its readers also participated in the survey, and if you don't already subscribe to this free publication, I urge you to check it out.

In addition, Vedran prepared the graph below showing the distribution of responses. We were hoping for a bell-shaped curve, but you will notice it stops with 23.6% of the respondents reporting that they believe inflation is 11% or higher. In light of this, we will add higher rate choices the next time we run our survey.

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