As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…
Assets are deflating at the moment though. S&P500 is down, property prices are down, etc. Asset prices are highly inversely correlated to interest rates, so for a 'rich' person you are actually much better off without inflation, as interest rates are lower and asset prices rise faster.
UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
221–230 of 1001 posts
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#222As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…
You are talking like inflation is some conspiracy wielded by “the rich” (who are they? Are they all friends with each other and plan all their schemes together?) against the “others”. Fact is the inflation we are seeing here is caused by the after effects of Covid, the Energy price surges caused by the Ukraine war and in the special case of UK - Brexit, which has lead to huge import shortages due to increased bureauc…
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#223[flagged]
I think the UK was doomed inside or outside Europe. Not quite sure why, but their relative productivity per worker has been dropping since 2007 compared to all other developed nations. [1] With low productivity, it doesn't matter if you have sweet trade deals - you're still going to decline eventually. [1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47826195.amp
One, UK is growing at about the same rate as other developed economies. This is quite remarkable because, if you look at Europe, 100% of these countries have significantly higher unemployment.
Two, productivity growth has slowed everywhere after 2007. The UK is comparable to Western Europe, slower than Germany, faster than Italy, it depends heavily on what start and end date you pick. This isn't particularly surprising given that we essentially outlawed the most productive sector of our economy after 2007.
Three, the UK had no financial boom in the 2010s, the US did, and the EU did...let's just wait until the debt has to be repaid to see the full score on whether that has worked out economically.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#224Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#225As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…
You are talking like inflation is some conspiracy wielded by “the rich” (who are they? Are they all friends with each other and plan all their schemes together?) against the “others”. Fact is the inflation we are seeing here is caused by the after effects of Covid, the Energy price surges caused by the Ukraine war and in the special case of UK - Brexit, which has lead to huge import shortages due to increased bureauc…
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure how this cartel like behaviour works in the UK where every major supermarket has its own range of competing products - and then there is the likes of Aldi that is 90% stocked with brand lookalike knock offs? There are currently competing narratives in the UK about food prices - greedy supermarkets v poor farmers and the same people complaining then say they shop at Aldi because it's cheaper. Food is stil…
> Food is still cheap - it represents a small percentage of people's income. If you look at it as an average for the population, sure. But that masks the real issue, which is that it hits poor people the hardest because spending on food doesn't scale proportionally with income.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#227As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…
I think you have it backward. I think the inflation is the byproduct of their ability to own and hoard assets like land and labor, and reap the most value from those things, while everyone else is unable to get a foothold.
Inflation is happening because everyone is making more money, and everyone got a bunch of during covid, and now a lot of people are having large swaths of debt cut from their lives (college loan forgiveness program), not because rich people own stuff. But poorer people also can’t get ahead because rich people own everything.
This is a capitalism problem more specifically than it is a rich v. poor problem. Make it illegal to own more than one property and you will instantly give the lower and middle classes a chance.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#228As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
The consumer decides what they are prepared to pay for a product, unless the demand is inelastic. And for food overall, the demand is inelastic. Consumers cannot just say "food is too expensive for me, so I think I'm going to to go without it this month". They can choose between the individual products they buy, so it wouldn't be a problem if just some food items got expensive. But the price of food overall is inflat…
> They can choose between the individual products they buy, so it wouldn't be a problem if just some food items got expensive. But the price of food overall is inflating. That is a false binary. You can still buy flour (or naan or pita), cheese and tomato sauce instead of pre-made pizzas, sacrificing your time against rising food costs. You can buy lentils instead of steak, sacrificing your preferences against rising…
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#230What about grocery store profit margins? > Bread was up 20.8%, with pasta products and couscous up 25.3% This is unjustified. Under no circumstances could this happen unless a) price gauging, or b) supply chain is drying up. Edit for the ignorant: > The UK is largely self-sufficient in production of grains, producing over 100% of domestic consumption of oats and barley and over 90% of wheat. Average yields over recen…
>> Bread was up 20.8%, with pasta products and couscous up 25.3% > This is unjustified. Under no circumstances could this happen unless a) price gauging, or b) supply chain is drying up. Are you aware that both Russia and Ukraine are (normally) major exporters of grain?