RS 9

This podcast was very helpful because the people on it did a very good job of explaining CPI and breaking it down simply. One of the things that was most interesting to me was the part about the Economic Assistants and how it is their job to go into stores and compare current prices to past prices to measure inflation or deflation. An interesting point that was made was why do they have to actually go to these stores instead of doing research online or over the phone. That seems like the way most of us would think to do it, but the BLS seems to be going by the theory of, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. That is why there are people driving around all over finding prices of little products all over the place. These points were interesting points that I didn't know contributed to CPI in the way they did.

Another interesting point that they made was that, if people or corporations were able to find out what the CPI change would be before everyone else, they could beat the markets and get rich. I didn't know that gold prices and bond prices and things like that had to do with CPI and that CPI affects prices of everyday products in the way it does. I wasn't aware that CPI affected inflation and deflation and things like that, but the people on Planet Money did a good job of explaining it.