January CPI came out yesterday, showing a 7.5% increase in the cost of living. It’s the highest inflation rate since 1982. We blogged about it immediately:

Hennessy's View

Inflation Highest Since 1982 as Cost of Necessities Soars

The last time inflation was this high, “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor was the number one song on Billboard. That as August 1982. Whitey Herzog’s St. Louis Cardinals (the original Greatest Show on Turf) was just a Glenn Brummer steal of home away from a trip to the World Series…

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6 months ago · 2 likes · 3 comments · Bill Hennessy

But Jerry, a faithful reader, replied to that post with a great comment, reminding me that the government manipulated the CPI calculator to make inflation look lower than it is.

As documented at shadowstats.com, if we were still honestly measuring inflation with the same model as was used in 1982, the published rate would be almost SIXTEEN PERCENT, which would push us back Another 35 years to match the post-war inflation of 1947.

Therefore, strike what I said about “Eye of the Tiger” and Whitey Herzog’s Cardinals. The last time inflation was this high, the number song in America was “Near You” by Francis Craig and his Orchestra, and two teams from New York met in the World Series.