Calculating the cost of living

Re: Inflation is zero? Why the doubt? Kevin Carmichael, Sept. 17; and The real problem with the CPI, Philip

Cross, Sept. 3

Contrary to the substance of these articles, adjusting product price down to account for quality improvement understates the increase in our cost of living.

To illustrate, a farmer bringing produce to the market has to pay for a truck in 2020 that costs 60 times more than its equivalent in 1920, in good part because of the truck's shiny new appurtenances. The costs of these will have been at least partially deducted from the truck's price to calculate inflation. However, the cost of the function of bringing the farmer's produce to market has gone up as fast as the unadjusted sticker price and the farmer has to pay it or be out of business. The public is right to worry that the cost of living has increased at a faster rate than inflation as reported. Additionally, regardless of their contribution to our well-being, products like cellphones have become expensive necessities that are a step-up in our cost of living. Our society has become locked into an increasingly inflexible, increasingly high-cost structure that will be a problem if we enter a severe economic downturn.

Robert F. Richards, Toronto