Doug, your NATION article on the CPI is excellent, but where can we find an article that is more specific, i.e., refers to alternative calculations of the CPI (e.g., by the EPI) for oldsters, etc. indicating that cutting the CPI-based inflation rate for political purposes is not only politically venal but economically fallacious? BTW, Max, just because people on this list criticize neoclassical economics doesn't mean that _all_ neoclassicals are idiots, craven fools, or whatever. We're criticizing the dominant ideology in economics, which often trips off the tongues of economists, not the individuals. The U.S. BLS and the Department of Labor, if I remember correctly, has always been a beach-head for organized labor, enjoying more political pressure from labor and more pro-labor personnel than other departments of the Federal government. (The State Department is Wall Street's beach-head, etc.) So it shouldn't surprise us that the type of neoclassical who got appointed to head the BLS is a relatively good economist. Anyway, the BLS calculations don't have much to do with neoclassical economics _per se_. (There's nothing necessarily neoclassical about index-number theory or data collection.) in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ. 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.
