The chained CPI: A bad deal all around

The consumer price index. Chained. President Obama has floated the idea of utilizing the chain-weighted consumer price index as a superior measure for tracking inflation. The proposal, which many on both sides of the political aisle feel was a gesture to the GOP as part of future grand bargain is not the most accurate way of measuring inflation and may wind up disproportionately hurting the middle class and the elderly in which case, the author purports, Republicans would wind up with the lion’s share of the blame.