While the CPI at one time was the measure desired by the public, government efforts turned the CPI away from measuring the price changes in a fixed-weight basket of goods and services to a quasi-substitution-based basket of goods, which destroyed the concept of the CPI as a measure of the cost of living of maintaining a constant standard of living.

FORBES: CPI Inflation Rate Calculator (Experienced vs. Reported)

Dollar-cost averaging means investing a constant dollar amount on a regular basis.

FORBES: Make Sure To Sell The Right Stocks At The Right Time In Retirement

If they are not which many firms fear support will remain a cost with no matching benefit, at constant risk of being squeezed.

ECONOMIST: Face value

At a cost, be it said: the need for constant negotiation with sectional interests has slowed change, causing the president to disappoint those who expected him to do more to improve welfare and attack inequality.

ECONOMIST: Brazil: Underperforming opposition | The

All this may seem a bit extreme to a service industry outsider, not used to the narrow margins and constant focus on cost control down to the penny.

FORBES: The End of Full-Time Work in the American Retail Service Sector

Volunteerism at any cost, coarse egalitarianism, active adventures abroad, and a country kept in a state of constant tension by the latest economic or political campaign appear to be gradually fading into things of the past.

CNN: Should the U.S. raise a fist or offer a hand to Cuba?