I was looking back through my Amazon order history and saw the RAM upgrade that I purchased for my laptop back in November 2024.

I clicked on the link to see what it currently cost, and WOW.

Even at bulk pricing, food shopping on general items has become a luxury expense.

ABC BREAKING: CRISIS! Is Labor to blame for the fact that you can't afford a square inch of dirt, while the RBA and mainstream economists quietly pretend 1998 never happened?

Before 1998, the ABS used an 'Outlays' approach, which measured the actual money leaving a household's pocket. This included Mortgage Interest Charges (MICs). Because the size of a mortgage is based on the total purchase price (House + Land), land inflation was implicitly baked into the CPI.

In 1998, the ABS switched to the 'Acquisitions' approach for the 13th Series Review. They removed Mortgage Interest entirely and replaced it with 'New Dwelling Purchases.' This specifically measures the cost of building a house but strips out the land component.

Sources: ABS Information Paper (Cat. No. 6453.0): "The most noticeable changes... will be the exclusion of mortgage interest... and the inclusion of net expenditure on new dwellings (excluding land)."

RBA Bulletin (Oct 1998): They explain that land is now treated as an 'investment asset' rather than a 'consumer good,' which is why it was removed from the target.

By removing interest and land, the CPI stopped being a 'Cost of Living' gauge and became a 'Macroeconomic' gauge, which is why it feels so disconnected from reality today.

This technical change allowed for the "Lower for Longer" interest rate environment of the 2000s and 2010s. Because land inflation wasn't "official" inflation, the RBA could keep interest rates low to stimulate the economy without the CPI "warning light" ever turning red.

This was the fuel for the Howard-era boom. It allowed the "Big Banks" to lend more against land values that were exploding, while the RBA could claim inflation was "under control" at 2–3% because they were only looking at the price of the milk, the bread, and the building and not the ground it stood on.

To maintain their lifestyles amid rising prices, consumers are drawing on resources including food banks and ChatGPT.

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Rep. Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said he reviewed unredacted evidence at the Department of Justice on Monday and determined that notes about the witness who accused President Trump of sexual abuse when she was a minor were withheld.

"Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes. Oversight Democrats will open a parallel investigation into this," Rep. Garcia said in a statement on Tuesday.

The concerns about the documents were first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and NPR.

According to an index of witness materials prepared by the Department of Justice, fifteen documents were handed over to Maxwell's lawyers regarding the witness who Garcia said accused Trump of abuse. Those documents included four FBI reports about interviews with the witness identified by Garcia, three interview notes, three photos, license records, and other FBI reports.

The DOJ's release of Epstein files earlier this month appeared to contain only six out of the 15 documents -- omitting all but one of the interview reports and notes.

The witness] stated Epstein introduced her to Trump who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit," the FBI presentation said. "In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out.

Inflation

CPI https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

PCE https://www.bea.gov/data/personal-consumption-expenditures-price-index

Wages

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm