burningmatches

u/burningmatches@feddit.uk
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Evangelicals are an almost entirely US phenomenon. In the rest of the world, Protestant countries like Germany and the UK are more liberal than Catholic countries like Ireland and Italy. For example, Italy “legalised” abortion in 1978 but the vast majority of gynaecologists refuse to perform them on religious grounds. Ireland didn’t legalise until… 2019!

on Movie · c/memes · 1 pts · 2y

That’s like 1% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The rest are random bloggers and the food/entertainment critic of the Springfield Courier.

It’s true that a lot of data isn’t sold, but a large chunk of the figure you quote also seems to include business data — stuff that contains zero personal information but is still hugely valuable to companies and investors (look at how much this report costs, for example, or consider that a Bloomberg terminal costs around $25k/yr).

And remember, those investment buyers make up a big chunk of the consumer data market too and are only interested in aggregated insights to inform trading strategies. They don’t care about personal info or targeted ads.

True, you don’t see producers selling fake “parmigiano reggiano” in the US (why bother when most Americans only know it as parmesan anyway). But the EU couldn’t stop them. It’d more likely be a matter for US regulators if they consider it deceptive.

The BoJ measures inflation to help it manage the economy. It’s not a political tool. As an individual, changes in your cost of living are personal to you. You don’t need the central bank or the government to tell you about it.

Obviously, the BoJ isn’t focused on individuals. It wants to see what’s happening across the whole economy. Through research that is freely available, it has determined that the index provides a more reliable signal when volatile fresh food prices are excluded (because the things that typically cause these prices to change, like the weather, don’t reflect a broad shift in the economy).

You’re wrong that energy isn’t included. That sentence is referring to a different (“core-core CPI”) index, which is higher at 4% because energy prices have gone down. Japan’s energy problems are as result of the post-Fukushima shift from nuclear, largely a result of public opinion.

Put simply, CPI isn’t a measure of “cost of living“. It’s a tool for central bank policy.