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UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

grocerygazette.co.uk

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Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#571

Post by bombcar »

tootie wrote: post #452
legitster wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty lazy narrative. Prices are rising even in non-branded goods and markets. Smaller retailers are not-undercutting the bigger retailers. Couscous and margarine and eggs being more expensive across the board at the supplier level. This does not speak to any sort of cartel behavior.

Not to veer off into the psychology of it, but there's just such an overwhelming desire by most people to place blame for any misfortune on some intentional human behavior.

It's the root of conspiracy theories - it's much easier and nicer to think there's some cartoon villain somewhere making your life miserable; it's much harder to admit that the world is just annoying and painful.

Also with a "big evil" you can tell yourself that removing that evil would solve everything.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#572

Post by jhallenworld »

ddren wrote: post #520
Nifty3929 wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lower class does suffer the most, but unfortunately it is the policies intended to help them which actually cause most of the problem. By giving money to people without producing more stuff - or even making it harder to produce the same - you MUST have inflation, rationing, or empty shelves - and often all three. The solution to allowing lower classes to have more stuff is to make it easier for everybody to produ…

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The rises are due to a power dynamic: the companies raising the prices can basically get away with it ("whatever the market will bear").

Why can they do this? One reason is monopoly power- monopolies must be broken up.

But what else can be done (besides central bank driven demand destruction)? So instead of price controls, a more palatable solution is collective buying. This gives buyers more clout, allows them to bargain for lower prices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyers_club

So we need more large non-profit buyers clubs, things like that. In the US, allow medicare to bargain with drug companies- it's insane that they can not.

An example where this works: my parents live in a gated community. They pay very little for the cable + internet + cell phone because the entire community has a deal with the provider.

Large retailers have this exact role: they certainly demand and get lower prices from their suppliers. We need a non-profit version of this, why should Walmart owners only benefit from their buying power?

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#573

Post by solveit »

cool_dude85 wrote: post #497
Nifty3929 wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lower class does suffer the most, but unfortunately it is the policies intended to help them which actually cause most of the problem. By giving money to people without producing more stuff - or even making it harder to produce the same - you MUST have inflation, rationing, or empty shelves - and often all three. The solution to allowing lower classes to have more stuff is to make it easier for everybody to produ…

>By giving money to people without producing more stuff - or even making it harder to produce the same - you MUST have inflation, rationing, or empty shelves - and often all three. Says who? Why can't the people producing stuff simply take lower profit margins instead?

Prices lower than the market-clearing price necessarily mean rationing or empty shelves. If you have a hundred potatoes and two hundred people, lowering prices just mean some people won't be able to buy at the low price.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#574

Post by OJFord »

fortuna86 wrote: post #439
benjaminwootton wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you are being downvoted. Stock prices are on the slide and property prices and rental yields are extremely precarious. I also agree that low rates were good as you could invest in property with leverage and in businesses which could borrow and raise money to cheaply to grow. Nobody is having a good time right now.

> property prices and rental yields are extremely precarious I noticed you didn't say "declining" because that wouldn't be true.

Over what period?

1 Feb Guardian - house prices fall for fifth month in a row

1 March Guardian - house prices fall at fastest annual rate since 2012

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#575

Post by goneri »

hnburnsy wrote: post #518
tacker2000 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Why does Brexit have to equal "increased bureaucracy at the border"? Is it due to the lifelong bureaucrats that loves enforcing it? An effective government should do everything in its power to reduce the bureaucracy in extraordinary times.

They've decided to leave the European Common Market, which was precisely designed to avoid the bureaucracy and reduce the burden of the customs procedures.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#576

Post by NalNezumi »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #454
samhuk wrote: post #167

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…

The lower class does suffer the most, but unfortunately it is the policies intended to help them which actually cause most of the problem. By giving money to people without producing more stuff - or even making it harder to produce the same - you MUST have inflation, rationing, or empty shelves - and often all three. The solution to allowing lower classes to have more stuff is to make it easier for everybody to produ…

This seems to come from the same place as the argument of "trickle down economics". Yea no, I've seen similar things done in Japan with abenomics (with one of the targeted goal even being more inflation; without achieving it) and studies show it doesn't work.

Those spending never reaches the "lower classes", and seldom even reach places where it would have the potential to increase productivity.

It's a tired, old argument that is done to justify stupid spending and enriching certain pockets while claiming to benefit all with a shoddy reasoning that omit the important details

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#577

Post by dzikimarian »

ddren wrote: post #520
Nifty3929 wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lower class does suffer the most, but unfortunately it is the policies intended to help them which actually cause most of the problem. By giving money to people without producing more stuff - or even making it harder to produce the same - you MUST have inflation, rationing, or empty shelves - and often all three. The solution to allowing lower classes to have more stuff is to make it easier for everybody to produ…

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That went really well in my country 30-40 years ago.

My father once went to buy me diapers and returned with living room furniture set(ugly one also), because this was only one available since month or so, and he had to take it on the spot, because entire shipment will be gone in next few hours.

Then he had to go back to the diaper line and wait a few hours, because I wasn't impressed with the furniture enough to stop eating.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#578

Post by killjoywashere »

packetlost wrote: post #340
killjoywashere wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically, food supply doesn't drive anti-trust. It drives revolutions in the street.

Right, but a government worried about that might be inclined to be less friendly to monopolies.

The rather deliberative legislative process may not have enough time to react

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#579

Post by dumpsterlid »

PathOfEclipse wrote: post #570
benlivengood wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ shows that producing more stuff per person since 1978 hasn't fixed inflation (not graphed there), and we can afford less of it because real wages haven't kept up.

Inflation is primarily caused by governments increasing the supply of money: https://www.hoover.org/research/inflation-true-and-false . Inflation was fixed in the U.S. when Reagan became president: https://www.pacificresearch.org/beating-back-inflation-team-... Recent studies in fact show that wages and productivity are still linked: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/3.... And, finally other a…

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Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#580

Post by enlyth »

xwdv wrote: post #347

Given that there’s an obesity epidemic in the United States, we would benefit long term from such high food inflation IMO. It will force people to reach for cheaper, healthier options, or simply go without food and use up their fat stores. The poorest are often the most obese here.

Imagine being so avoidant to having self control that you would rather have higher food prices, I cannot even comprehend this

It's not hard not being obese, just eat less. Yes, that means having a degree of control over your actions, taking responsibility and not stuffing yourself with dopamine inducing fried food all day

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