Jordan,

I've done a little searching on the web...

In Canada we have "over 600 goods and services" in the basket, revised every 4 years. Sounds OK.
One of the documents defines the CPI (Consumer Price Index) as follows:"...It is obtained by comparing, through time, the cost of a fixed basket of commodities purchased by Canadian consumers in a particular year. Since the basket contains commodities of unchanging or equivalent quantity or quality, the index reflects only pure price movement.". This sounds perfect.

However, the document does NOT define the goods and services included in the calculations except in generic terms.
There are other documents that strongly suggest that the sample prices are "adjusted" or selectively used. Things like purchase availability at discount outlets or substituting one brand of product for another or changes of the product by the manufacturer. It is these kinds of machinations that lets them present a rosier picture than is actually seen by the consumer!
For instance, do they use prices from public bankruptcy sales, where everything may be at or below real cost when sold to the consumer? Do they substitute some unknown and rarely purchased brand of toothpaste dumped by some Chinese manufacturer on the Canadian market instead of using one of the 3 or 4 commonly purchased brands? Do they take prices from second-hand stores like the Salvation Army or the Saint Vincent de Paul Society???

I know this - the Canadain CPI in no way reflects the month-to-month or year-to-year price changes that I encounter every day when I buy something. So it is no good to me and has no value for me. My taxes are adjusted to account for inflation. What good has that done for me when my experience is in the range of 8-12% annually but the taxes are adjusted based on 1.8%??? What good does it do for a pensioner whose Old Age Pension is adjusted by 1.8% but the real difference FELT through the year was 8-12%????

It is phoney and it does NOT serve the people. It doesn't matter what they use to collect the information. What matters is how the use the information. Figures don't lie, but liers can figure.




>For Bulgaria they are 1200 goods
>For USA, as I read that they are 1800.
>I don't know how many they are for Canada, but in Canadian Statistic Institute there is clear methodology of how many good with what kind weight come in monthly basket.
>Bulgarian Stat. Ins. - collect data from 28 bulgarian towns in the end of the month. They use DB2 for collection of data