While inflation (explicit in price rises or implicit in USD debauchery) over the past 30 years has eaten away at the average American's standard of living, it is the cost of living the 1%-life that has truly soared. As Forbes' "Cost of Living Extremely Well" index (CLEWI) shows [3], since 1982, the 1% have seen prices for their goods rise at double the pace of the average joe. However, do not feel too sorry for them, as their net worth, courtesy of various Fed interventions has outpaced the cost of living extremely well by over 4 times.
[4]
U.S. inflation might be near-nonexistent overall but not if you’re doing your purchasing at the top. FORBES’ exclusive Cost of Living Extremely Well Index (CLEWI) has outpaced inflation by an average of 2.5 percentage points a year since 1982.
The index measures the prices of 40 superluxe consumer goods across a variety of categories. On average, the items we eyed got pricier by 4.1% (red line), while the Consumer Price Index (blue line) nudged up just 1.7%. But that gap isn’t likely bothering The Forbes 400; their aggregate net worth (gold line) was up 13.3% over last year, more than three times as much as our index.
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So - inflation is evident in stocks (owned by the 1%), real estate (owned by the 1%), and superluxury goods (owned by the 1%)...
What The Fed needs is some good old-fashioned currency panic like in Russia to spark the kinds of 'good' 'broad' inflation that the Keynesian debacle needs to support its incessant debt needs.
