The substitution effect is BS. If Meat A is twice Meat B, and both rise 50%, switching from Meat A to Meat B midstream makes it look like it’s only went up 25%, a totally bogus figure. That and all the other recent adjustments like hedonics are a joke. Hedonics may have a long term effect but that doesn’t do squat for my pocketbook right now.
The other part of this is, and maybe they do factor this in, but say someone with an average 50K income, what is their basket? What I’m saying is, yeah computers are coming down, but I don’t buy a computer every month. I do buy gas and food several times a month.
And for old geezers...up-grading from dog food to cat food is a net gain according to 0bambi.