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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

#781
post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When food starts to run out, governments serve their own people first. This is also true for the EU. If there's not enough to go around, the UK simply won't get to buy any.

That's true, except when food starts to run out, the French government will serve the French people, the Spanish government will serve the Spanish people, and so on. You're nuts if you think the Spanish are going to ship food they desperately need to Hungary because they're both in the EU.

Isn't that exactly what's happening with energy right now? I live next to a hydro plant that isn't even maxed at capacity and my electricity bill is like 8x what it used to be, simply because they "have to" sell energy at the whole EU market because someone somewhere desperately needs it.

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

#782

I cannot believe supermarkets these days, it is insane the increases in prices, I’ve seen £5 for a tube of normal toothpaste and £6 for a tiny Pizza that is sometimes available for £3. How people on modest salaries survive I don’t know. Quite often I’m starting to notice dark patterns in pricing where things you normally didn’t worry about will have randomly increased by £2-3 and you get the checkout and you’ve spent…

Two of the most well-known toothpaste brands in the UK are still selling their most 'basic' toothpastes for 100ml for £1, which I don't think is much of a rise on what it's been for the last few years (I think I used to get 125ml for that price).

People on modest salaries either don't spot the cheaper, just-as-good toothpaste that's not as prominent, they think that it's not as good as the ones with lists of all the great things they're supposed to do, or they aren't feeling the squeeze enough to seek it out.

If you drop into an independent chemist you might notice that sometimes the only toothpaste they stock is the 'basic' one, because their customers are price-sensitive, so that's all they'll buy.

Going rate for pizza is around 60p/100g, with a larger than average Aldi 'Meat Feast' pizza coming in at £2.19, which is 39p/100g.

Again, if you're on a 'modest salary', you pick the cheaper products or pick the supermarkets which only really sell the cheaper products.

I'm not saying that prices aren't going up, just that closer to the 'survival' line, there is much less room to increase prices, because people aren't at the point of choosing based on preference, so you can't rely on them switching to a slightly cheaper option from your artificially differentiated product line (yes, you, Colgate-Palmolive). They'll just be forced to stop buying your products altogether.

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

#783

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.

The Brexit slogan was "Taking back control of our borders". Please explain how can you do that without increasing "bureaucracy"?

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

#784

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…

> 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.

You tried the wrong thing. You shouldn't hand money without conditions. Instead of letting speculative assets grow, you should only let productive bussineses borrow money with low interests. Businesses which produce tangible goods and are creating jobs.

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

#785
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…

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…

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

#786
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hope you don't mind me re-posting this from another comment of mine, but since you specifically raise the UK it's actually more relevant here. In the UK it doesn't look like gouging is the issue: https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/01/31/food-companies-p... Honestly you're right that inflation can benefit the well off, but I don't buy the conspiracy theory angle. "The Establishment" has been holding inflation rates…

Why doesn’t 4% count as weaponized? That’s higher than typical annual raises, not to mention non workers

But then again inflation benefits people with debt. 4% annual inflation means their real debt load is 3.8% lower. Low inflation is basically a subsidy to creditors.

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

#787

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

When Volcker was appointed by Carter. Also oil prices had been dropping for several years.

https://reason.com/2022/10/13/inflation-remixed/

Inflation in 1980, when Carter's presidency ended, was at 12% YoY, the highest they'd ever been in his entire presidency. Rising oil prices were not the only, or even primary, cause of inflation.

From the article: "In the early 1960s, a pair of Nobel Prize–winning economists, Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow, argued that in order to keep unemployment around 3 percent, U.S. policy makers should be willing to accept that "the price index might have to rise by as much as 4 to 5 percent a year. That much price rise would seem to be the necessary cost of high employment." Both economists were close to Kennedy, who pushed for low interest rates, hoping to spur rapid economic growth."

This idea turned out to be false.

Also from the article: "In the early 1960s, a pair of Nobel Prize–winning economists, Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow, argued that in order to keep unemployment around 3 percent, U.S. policy makers should be willing to accept that "the price index might have to rise by as much as 4 to 5 percent a year. That much price rise would seem to be the necessary cost of high employment." Both economists were close to Kennedy, who pushed for low interest rates, hoping to spur rapid economic growth."

This turned out to be true. And, lastly:

"In the 1970s, that is exactly what happened in the American economy, often by design. As Frum wrote, "The United States had consciously chosen to inflate its currency. It made that choice because of the political ideology and personal weakness of the men entrusted with the job of managing the American economy: their utopianism, their arrogance, and then finally their cowardice." The inflation that vaulted Reagan into office was not an accident or an incidental effect of policy. It was the result of deliberate policy choices."

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

#788
post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that is why the UK is being hit harder by inflation than any other country in the western world I don't think that's true. Right now, UK inflation is lower than almost any European country east of Germany, including Sweden, and it seems inflation was running lower throughout COVID than even the US.

Please send me links if you've got any because this is conflicting with what I have been reading so it would be nice to have a more balanced view if this is the case.

https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate-?co...

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

#789
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…

"In an inflationary economy, the winners are rich who have valuable assets whose value skyrocket"

Agree. But, even better in inflationary economy: Debt. You want to own massive assets with loads of debt.

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