More manufacturers are developing separate product lines that target two separate markets. The low cost line is sent to the discount outlets, and the high-end product is reserved for specialty stores and prestige retailers. Common sense tells us tht consumers are not flocking to discount outlets because they love them, but because they must save every penny. Finally, the Boskin Commission argues that the current CPI computation ignores improvements in product quality. They point to obvious improvements in computers, VCRs, and other electronic equipment as proof, as well as the advances in safety equipment and pollution control in automobiles.
Quality is often a subjective judgment that defies quantitative measurement.
Besides, while some products have improved in quality, others have deteriorated over time. Because of recent economies enacted throughout the American business community, downsizing, outsourcing, re-engineering of manufacturing processes, and so on, quality has declined for many consumer products. In short, the planned revisions of the CPI are all theoretically dubious, and certainly politically motivated. It had the backing of both the Republican Congressional majority and the Clinton White House, until protests by House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt caused Clinton to drop it. Gephardt has Presidential aspirations for the year 2000, and Clinton is loath to give him an issue with which to cudgel his hand-picked successor, Vice President Albert Gore.