Cost of living crisis

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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by bubbles1966 »

Also, interest rates only seem high if we forget what long term normal is and think life began in 2008.

The BoE rate in October 2008 was 5%. It was slashed to 0.5% within six months.

The rates are just going back to what they have been for long spells in the last 100 years.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by Greatest Cockney Rip Off »

Deutsche Bank taking a pounding ...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/li ... iness-live
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by RichieRiv »

bonzosbeard wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 1:17 pm
Get into more debt because they have to buy things to live, food, clothes etc. Heat their homes.

I'm happy for the experts to be right and continuing to increase rates will bring inflation down. But hasn't happened so far.

Do we increase to 20% until it works. Hundreds of thousands homeless? But they can at least afford tomatoes now they've stopped going up.

I dont have the answers, of course I don't, but something isn't working.
But it has.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflatio ... /l55o/mm23

Even the BofE, Treasury and ONS have said this month's figures came as a surprise and were down to food prices. Now of course the media hasn't gone into any great detail over what exactly, but looking at the ONS website and their CPI basket of goods - tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are featured. The very thing they were reporting on a few weeks back.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by RichieRiv »

hammers92 wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 1:28 pm I actually meant what would you do to solve the cost of living crisis!

But that’s all really interesting nonetheless. My mate worked at Reuters for a few years working on the “environment” and the IT systems everyone uses there.
:oops:

That's a tad embarrassing.

Honestly, I don't know, plus it's very difficult not to act in hindsight e.g. Clegg should have STFU and built nuclear. Shale gas/oil should be extracted as a 10-20 plan whilst renewables come online. Maybe breaking the link in wholesale prices between wind/solar and fossil fuels. Maybe not providing covid support to millions. Easy to say now.

I suspect one more rate rise and then potentially we will see them chipped down again. In order for growth to occur, people need money, so ramping up rates indefinitely will simply kill the economy.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by Denbighammer »

Tenbury wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:16 am It seems increasingly obvious that provision of compulsory, quality, free school meals at all state schools over an extended lunch period (as part of an extended school day) should be a cornerstone of a healthier and fairer society.
Sandwiches are for gamblers only.
I don't want my kids eating the ***** they serve for school dinners. I'll pack them a lunchbox and serve a proper dinner in the evening.

Free school meals for everyone is utterly mental. People who don't want them or can afford to pay for dinners shouldn't get them for nothing. Theyd be better making school dinners free for the poorest kids and spending the money on providing them with a healthy packed lunch for their tea to go home with. At least then they'd get two proper meals a day.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by Tenbury »

Denbighammer wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:56 pm I don't want my kids eating the ***** they serve for school dinners.
Nor would I. In parts of France, however, school canteens are of sufficient quality that they are open to the general public.
It's always seemed to me that much of the UK's dysfunctional attitude towards food stems from schooldays. IMO, 'grabbing a sandwich' as a substitute for the midday meal is detrimental to both physical and mental health, as is so much of the ludicrous Calvanistic work ethic we seem enslaved to.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by Monkeybubbles »

Tenbury wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 12:00 am Nor would I. In parts of France, however, school canteens are of sufficient quality that they are open to the general public.
It's always seemed to me that much of the UK's dysfunctional attitude towards food stems from schooldays. IMO, 'grabbing a sandwich' as a substitute for the midday meal is detrimental to both physical and mental health, as is so much of the ludicrous Calvanistic work ethic we seem enslaved to.
Amen, brother.

The meal deal. Sandwich, crisps, fizzy drink. That's barely even food.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by Junco Partner »

Looks like Governor Bailey has been prompted to say the unsayable and admit we've got Greedflation not inflation. About a year or more too late but notable nonetheless.

BoE Governor: Higher prices "hurts people" and the Bank will raise rates again if prices continued to increase.

It isn’t wage rises that are fuelling high inflation – it’s profiteering by large corporations. Any government that looked out for its citizens would be considering action on prices, starting with ceilings on basic food stuffs and an excess profits tax, out lot just shrug.

Greedflation: company profit and loss accounts tell their own story
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by bonzosbeard »

Shocking if that greedflation is true.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by jastons »

bonzosbeard wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:41 am Shocking if that greedflation is true.
If? There is no doubt about it.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by SammyLeeWasOffside »

As it's the one mentioned P&G profit margin through 2022 were lower than at any time in the previous 12 years bar one. 2019 when the strong dollar among other factors saw profit margins plummet briefly. It's odd unite picked this precise moment to stoke up ire against big business instead of any of the previous or subsequent years which would show lower profit margins now.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by the pink palermo »

If people don't like the price of a P&G product, don't buy the product.

Having said that, the UK does have an issue with a relatively uncompetitive supermarket structure.

Companies are not necessarily price fixing but they do seem to all increase prices at the same time.Undoubtedly there is some price gouging going on.

But by who?

The food producer? The supplier of the ingredients to the food producer? The supplier of the packaging to the food producer? The haulage firm delivering it?The Supermarket retailing it?

Undoubtedly some in the chain have seen costs rise, for which they need additional revenue to cover, but in some sectors we are seeing collapsing supply prices (paper based packaging) , yet the reductions are not being passed on to the consumer.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by SammyLeeWasOffside »

the pink palermo wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:45 am The food producer? The supplier of the ingredients to the food producer? The supplier of the packaging to the food producer? The haulage firm delivering it?The Supermarket retailing it?
Probably all of the above. If every step in the chain goes up then the retail price will reflect the combined increase. Consumers look at that and think thieving supermarkets.

Agree on the food structure. All those governments and councils encouraging out of town supermarkets for decades, kill off the local shops and suppliers and leave people at the mercy of Tesco et al. Now everyone that thought that was smart is probably moaning about food security.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by Denbighammer »

I can assure you from painful experience that haulage companies are not price gouging. Margins in haulage are ridiculous and the costs (not just fuel) how gone through the roof in the past couple of years.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by We_are_BML »

I see it a lot these days... the £700 per month leased car, designer clothes and hangbags all for show. Do I have sympathy for these people that now find themselves in a house they can't afford because of rising interest rates.. definitely not!
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by EvilC »

Denbighammer wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 4:16 pm I can assure you from painful experience that haulage companies are not price gouging. Margins in haulage are ridiculous and the costs (not just fuel) how gone through the roof in the past couple of years.
When I used to work in banking I covered Christian Salvesen. A couple of the supermarkets used to send someone a long to their results presentation to check that they weren’t making too much (which given their margins basically translates to “weren’t making any”) money.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by SammyLeeWasOffside »

Denbighammer wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 4:16 pm I can assure you from painful experience that haulage companies are not price gouging. Margins in haulage are ridiculous and the costs (not just fuel) how gone through the roof in the past couple of years.
Sorry just to clarify I didn't mean gouging at every point in the chain. I was just making the point that if every stage has increased costs the final price to the consumer will increase by a large amount to account for it all.

The BBC article linked above makes the point. If they were passing on all the actual increases a salad or a pint would be £20.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by Junco Partner »

Follow the money Sam.

See what firms and sectors post the record profits over the next while and you'll see who the gougers are. A sensible government concerned for its citizens would be on them in a flash taking it back off them.

We already know the fossil fuel giants are already gougers-in-chief, my money would be on the banks and big supermarkets joining them.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by chelmsfordhammer91 »

Junco Partner wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:02 am A sensible government concerned for its citizens would be on them in a flash taking it back off them.
I am very much against a government having the power to retrospectively take money off a successful business (or anyone really). There are too many variables involved to just tar them with profiteering.

I think the existing pricing models will change. You have a product for £1, the supermarket has say a 20% margin, so it sells for £1.20.

Price of the item to the store increases to £1.10, supermarket adds their 20% margin and it now costs £1.32.

People buying mostly the same stuff they used to buy in the supermarkets anyway, cue record profits. (Very simplified, obviously many other factors impact this).

The big point for me is whether these firms have increased their profit margins over and above the relative level of risk. Then you get a clearer idea of who is profiteering and who is just following sound business principles.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Post by jastons »

Junco Partner wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:02 am See what firms and sectors post the record profits over the next while and you'll see who the gougers are. A sensible government concerned for its citizens would be on them in a flash taking it back off them.
I'm no expert but wouldn't companies just pay out huge bonuses to (some) of their employees so they don't post anywhere near a record profit?
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