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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

#661

Post by jlengrand »

bruce343434 wrote: post #443
jlengrand wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to be positive in an ocean of poo, making your own tortillas is cheap, fast, kinda fun to do with kids and you can augment them for extra flavour. You can even batch prepare them in advance as long as they're not in contact with air. Many of those are the same. Pizza dough : once a month take 30 minutes preparing 10 rolls and in the freezer. And as a bonus, less chemicals in your system.

By far the most abundant chemical in any modern human is dihydrogen monoxide, I'm not sure that any hydrocarbon you will find in a tortilla is really even a comparison.

Hey, incidentally that very chemical is a major part of the recipe! My bad, English isn't my native language. I guess I meant additives?

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

#662

Post by somenameforme »

theturtletalks wrote: post #590
NalNezumi wrote: post #576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 arg…

His argument is that the government can do 2 things: 1. Interest-free money for businesses to launch, grow, and advance. This leads to more goods in the market and thus lower prices 2. Free money straight to the people which means more money in the market and thus, inflation, empty shelves, etc. His general point is that having interest-free money keeps existing players honest since newcomers can come in and start a…

The US has had extremely low interest rates for a very long time, and yet effective competition is further than ever in many industries. Something I'd observe is how unreasonably difficult it can be to legally sell things in the US. For instance hitting on this topic (of food prices), why can't I simply start baking bread and selling it? You can make an amazing loaf of bread for a tiny fraction of what people pay in a grocery store, but somehow actually being able to legal sell it is painful, at best.

By contrast I now live abroad in a developing country and it's quite amazing how ripe small business is. Want to sell bread? Okay, bake it and sell it. You can even get it stocked at "convenience marts" easily enough since a that's often just some guy's lower floor transformed in a shop. Talk to the owner, who's probably the guy at the counter, and make a deal. If people like your bread, you're now officially a baker - congrats.

Make it easier for people to sell stuff, and there will be more stuff. And the prices of stuff will trend downwards. While money is a way around these issues, a regular joe who happens to make a great loaf of bread probably isn't especially keen on taking on 5-6 figures of debt just to see if selling his bread actually works, let alone being something he really wants to dedicate himself to.

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

#663

Post by rabite »

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…

[flagged]

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

#664

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

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…

You're quoting the outputs of a propaganda industry, not the outputs of credible independent research.

These are the orgs who persistently try to sell trickle-down economics, minimal taxation, low regulation, and other discredited, disastrous, and irrational neoliberal policy arguments.

Many are also enthusiastic climate change denialists.

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

#665

Post by AviationAtom »

boc wrote: post #35

Demand for food is inelastic, so it makes sense that companies are raising prices as high as possible since people still have to eat. Generally this leads to price competition from other food brands, but when single companies own dozens/hundreds of food brands it’s easy to act like a cartel and keep prices high.

Many of the workers in these factory jobs decided it was a good point to retire, decided it was more worth it to stay home with their kids, found a calling in a different career, went back to school, etc. This all had had ripple effects throughout the supply chain, making for less goods available. Combine that with low unemployment, hence many folks competing for those goods, and it's easy to see why we are where we are.

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

#666

Post by andrewmutz »

benlivengood wrote: post #492
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…

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.

"Real" wages are wages after being adjusted for inflation

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

#667

Post by bakugo »

G3rn0ti wrote: post #507
bakugo wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is bizarre. Corporations taking advantage of the current economic climate to make a profit is a conspiracy now? Most of the large corporations responsible for selling these supposedly "inflated" goods are posting record profits with no shame, and here you are covering your eyes and ears to defend them.

Inflation means price increases across all actors in an economy. Large corporations also have to pay higher production costs now. So all these „profits“ are eaten up by the price increases those corporations see, too. I don’t think you have a valid understanding of what a „profit“ really is…

> So all these „profits“ are eaten up by the price increases those corporations see, too. I don’t think you have a valid understanding of what a „profit“ really is…

Uh, you should google what the word "profit" means. You're thinking of "revenue".

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

#668

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

OliverGilan wrote: post #628
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 has been remarkably low since 1980 though… and that graph doesn’t mention prices. Theoretically if more is being produced then you don’t need wages to keep up to afford the same luxuries. In fact all the stats I’ve seen shown that we can and do afford a lot more these days

Meanwhile the headline article is saying the exact opposite.

We're not talking about luxuries, we're talking about essentials. A nice iPhone is useless if you can't afford to feed your family or pay your energy bills - which is quite literally the situation many families in the UK are now finding themselves.

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

#669

Post by Aunche »

nehal3m wrote: post #453
Aunche wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A food producer may benefit from inflation, whereas a government loses out, despite both representing "the rich". An unattached young trades-person can ride the wave of inflation because they can easily switch to jobs with higher wages, whereas a another with a family cannot. Neither "the rich" nor the "lower class" is a monolithic entity. The idea that they are monolithic allows for elites to disguise their selfish…

Godwin's law in effect in comment number two (at the time of writing). I see the sentiment you're trying to portray but maybe try and be a little more verbose so you don't have to name the 20th century atrocities. Something like: Being deluded into thinking ["the rich" nor the "lower class" are monolithic entities] is a recipe for abuse by those in power.

Fair point. Edited. I do think the examples are still relevant because I don't think many people are aware of how this relates to antisemitism and the Soviet purges. I could bring up for a modern example, like Trump somewhat dismantling of the EPA, but that's requires more nuance to demonstrate my point.

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

#670

Post by klabb3 »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #600
theturtletalks wrote: post #590

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His argument is that the government can do 2 things: 1. Interest-free money for businesses to launch, grow, and advance. This leads to more goods in the market and thus lower prices 2. Free money straight to the people which means more money in the market and thus, inflation, empty shelves, etc. His general point is that having interest-free money keeps existing players honest since newcomers can come in and start a…

>1. Interest-free money for businesses to launch, grow, and advance. This leads to more goods in the market and thus lower prices We tried that. It all went into real estate and stocks and gave birth to a massive scam industry involving crypto and other get rich quick schemes as the world is full of stupid people and opportunists. The average joe didn't see much trickle down to him unless he was already invested in r…

Exactly this. And it’s not anecdotal either. In the UK, 75% of that new money goes to asset purchases[1], that’s likely a similar number in the US. Chronically low interest rates is a wealth redistribution program to the ones who get the biggest loans (guess who). The legend of the honest guy who needs a tractor or a fishing boat may as well be a mythical creature.

At least giving money directly to poor people is spent on things that can grow local economies. It is not perfect, but a lot more “stimulating” than giving money to institutions, corporations and rich people.

[1]: https://fortune.com/2023/03/20/is-federal-reserve-too-powerf...

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