When I did a quick check for 2025, the *only* thing I spotted was a dry little article saying how they were going to exclude metropolitan areas from their tracking. I’m unclear about why. The timing seems worrying: starting Feb 12, 2025. This will skew data -- a lot! www.bls.gov/cpi/notices/... - ThreadSky

geekmom3.bsky.social • 36 days ago

When I did a quick check for 2025, the *only* thing I spotted was a dry little article saying how they were going to exclude metropolitan areas from their tracking. I’m unclear about why. The timing seems worrying: starting Feb 12, 2025. This will skew data -- a lot!
https://www.bls.gov/cpi/notices/2024/publication-changes.htm

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geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

That said, maybe there are sound reasons behind this and no politics are involved in this one case. I have no idea, but we have no way of knowing if any government sponsored info is accurate anymore or if it's coming from Radio Trump-Musk and a new era of propaganda. We need independent sources!

geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

Posted this on what may be inaccurate as I realized the algorithms and decisions behind the changes I thought were suspicious looking may be innocent of political bias after all.

This doesn't discount the need for independent sources if we can no longer rely on our government to tell us the truth.

geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

Now, I realize all this started with a funny little meme mocking Trump voters about choosing someone who will absolutely do the opposite than lower the price of eggs. But since there is the potential for data to be censored or hidden from the public -- it's time to get serious for a minute here.

geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

Does excluding metropolitan areas skew the stats from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics? I would say, “absolutely yes!” — and that means this might not be the most accurate yardstick anymore.

So, what can we do? Where do we go for accurate measures of commodities? What about other sources?

geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

So, here’s what *would* be smart. Instead of a meme that puts a “+25%” on random stuff — we should figure out a way to track commodities or figure out who *is* reliably tracking all this, who is in a position to provide accurate data that cannot be potentially manipulated for political reasons.

geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

Just now, I don’t trust anything coming from the government because Trump/Musk et. al. have been busy installing loyalists instead of those who can actually do their jobs and skewing information available to the public.

geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

So, here’s the deal — the *first* part of our revolution needs to be: accurate information. How do we get accurate information? Who can keep that information safe and free from bias? Those who control the information can control others. We need the truth to be our calling card.

geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

That’s the deal. Why? Because without accurate reporting — we’ve got nothing and Trump/Musk et. Al. and their cabal of anti-science idiots will continue to have their way with those who are kept in the dark. And we're all kept in the dark without real stats (based on real facts) and real science

gweran.bsky.social•36 days ago

Metropolitan areas are not being excluded from the index (the CPI is still only for urban consumers), however those indexes are no longer being published for each individual metropolitan area.

geekmom3.bsky.social•36 days ago

Fair enough, I realized that I was probably wrong about that or misinterpreted the memo -- but the thing is, we really can't count on these websites remaining unbiased considering the way government agencies are being gutted or undermined. We do need to find a way to archive and access information

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