the cpi is a farce, here in OZ... food ,energy and petrol costs are not disposable income items,,,they are necessities....
we only have 2 major supermarkets, who raise prices at their will, they have no competition...there is no authority that watches over them, or brings them into line, curbs their price rises
so too with petrol and energy
but the RBA punishes the consumer by raising interest rates, due to the rising costs in the CPI
yet the major retailers in those sectors continue to raise charges, and are without competition
when the CPI was first established, it was never considered there would be no comptetition in those sectors it presumed there would be competition and consumers could shop around to reduce their costs...
the alternative is to only buy the most basics of food, to attempt to bring the food retailers back into line...but they are too smart, they will keep the basics high... or ruin the dairy industry as they are now doing, make the dairy farmers pay for the reduced prices on offer... it is not costing the retailers any profit...
