Rappaport is at it again!!

[LilAlex]

are now on average 30-40% more expensive per carat than they were in March 2008.

ahhh, thank you -- so this whole thing is simply relative to some time zero in 2008? I see. If they merely kept up with inflation, they should all be almost off the top of the chart by now.

It is a weird way to express pricing since the time frame for the increase is always getting longer -- makes it hard to compare to other investments but I guess that is not real the purpose.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

ahhh, thank you -- so this whole thing is simply relative to some time zero in 2008? I see. If they merely kept up with inflation, they should all be almost off the top of the chart by now.
It is a weird way to express pricing since the time frame for the increase is always getting longer -- makes it hard to compare to other investments but I guess that is not real the purpose.

The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.95% per year between 2008 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 28.47%

 

[LilAlex]

The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.95% per year between 2008 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 28.47%

I see. The average inflation rate (arithmetic mean of a series of inflation rates) tells you nothing, really. My example above shows that with an average change of 0%, the value could have plummeted. Like when the Russian stock market fell by 90% then "went back up" by 90% the following year. (I do not know if those numbers are entirely accurate but let's say they are for the sake of argument.) The average change for those two years would be 0% (+90% , -90%) but the market would still have lost 81% of its value.

You are right that my ballpark estimate of 3% annual inflation was too high for that interval (it's the figure in my head for inflation in general); however, again, "average percent" is very misleading so no one reports data that way. They might use the geometric mean of the annual inflation rates (or investment return rates, etc.)

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Average temperature of patients in hospital is perfect

 

[Rockdiamond]

Another day, another across the board increase on the list.......fasten your seatbelts!!