The Wall Street
Journal jumped into the “chained CPI” fray with a Thursday editorial,
neglecting the negative financial effect it would have on squeezed Social
Security recipients and others, but backing President Barack Obama in replacing
the traditional consumer price index with the “more accurate measure of
inflation,” notes Grumpy Editor.
Switching the long-running traditional CPI with chained CPI --- short
for the mouthful “chained consumer price index for all urban consumers” ---
would reduce benefit increases to more than 60 million Americans receiving
Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) monthly payments.
As the Journal happily explains the chained
CPI: “This alternative measure of purchasing power takes into account how
consumers change their buying habits over time as prices change. When oranges cost more, for example,
people buy fewer oranges and eat more apples instead.”
Sounds good. But will
that routine happen?
Getting back to the oranges/apples illustration --- Journal editorial writers may be
interested to know that at a local Kroger supermarket, oranges are 89 cents a
pound with apples a dime higher.
Will consumers really shift to cheaper substitutes?
Following that thinking, an updated CPI formula points to seniors switching, as examples, to bus transportation when air fares rise above the cumulus, or moving from a
two bedroom apartment to smaller lodging --- or (worst of all) dropping a
newspaper subscription in favor of checking the Web.
Print national advertising drops 15 percent
Newspaper revenue continues to ebb, falling to $38.6 billion or
2 percent last year compared with 2011, according to the Newspaper
Association of America.
NAA
notes advertising in printed daily and Sunday newspapers dropped 9 percent in
2012, according to data from 15 companies that provided detailed breakouts by
category.
In various segments, adds NAA,
retail advertising was off 8 percent, national advertising dropped 15 percent
while classified advertising declined 9 percent.
Within
the classified category, automotive slumped 9 percent, real estate fell 12
percent, recruitment declined 8 percent and all other classified edged down 5
percent, tallies NAA.
However, there are signs that the dips are starting to
be made up by other sources, including digital subscriptions and digital
advertising.
In case you
missed these…
Despite an
uneasy situation in some parts of the world, more than a dozen Air Force
fighter squadrons are grounded at U.S. bases around the world, as the
cash-strapped service confronts the effects of steep defense budget cuts
brought on by sequestration. Says
one veteran Air Force commander: “The stuff that’s happening this year is
going to have impacts on our force for many years to come.” In addition, the Air Force wants to
shed 2,640 airmen next year…The Postal Service is
canceling plans to end Saturday mail delivery
this summer. Editors on many newsweeklies and community papers are breathing
easier since their products rely on Saturday mail delivery to reach subscribers…Los
Angeles CBS radio station KNX today marks its 45th year as an all-news outlet. Over the years, notes Grumpy Editor,
the 50,000 watter continues to do a top-notch professional job around the
clock.
CNN plans to bring back Crossfire
in June…The New York Observer laid off 11 people
from the business side of its overall media group on Friday, part of a sales
team reorganization…Why print copy
editors sprout gray hair: The Associated Press is making another change in its Stylebook, this time contracting under way to one word, underway…The Taylor family, former owner of the Boston Globe for more than a century
until 1993, is mulling an offer to buy back
the daily, along with the Worcester
Telegram & Gazette, from The New
York Times Co…Annual ritual
continues: Look for local TV
news crews tonight to stake out Post Offices for video of late tax filers
dispatching their envelopes to the IRS.