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

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

#891

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…

The fix is to produce more stuff. It's that simple. It might not be easy though. It would require us to focus on production, remove barriers, streamline regulations, encourage and actively celebrate production. It seems these days we're ambivalent toward the production of stuff, or even antagonistic to it in many cases. So we have less stuff. Combine this with giving people more money and you get inflation.

Yes yes fellow consumers. We should remove consumer protections and lower corporation taxes! Then I’m sure the companies will treat us better!

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

#892

There was 11+ Trillion injected into the economy, most of that did not got to the poor. Lets pay more attention to this cause

Are we talking worldwide there? How is that number even possible, that's like half the US's GDP and almost four times UK's.

China also did a lot of its QE with chinese characteristics. If i remember correctly north to a trillion $ in 2022.

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

#893

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, people could eat cheaper food. Not to mention that most people eat too many calories.

Cheaper food is cheaper for a reason. The human body doesn’t just require calories. You need other nutrients too: protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Usual advice is to eat a balanced diet, but that is expensive. Even eggs are expensive. If everybody starts eating even more trash than usual then that will cost the government more in healthcare costs.

You can eat a balanced diet just off of canned food and rice. The fact that people expect to be able to eat fresh bell peppers in the middle of winter is the issue.

Eating seasonal and preserved foods is how we survived before the age of refrigeration and global logistics chains and maybe we should reconsider what is normal.

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

#894
post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the price of food overall is inflating. I'm a senior programmer with outrageous salary, and I still paused yesterday looking at the price of beef. Went for chicken instead. I wish inflation numbers would also include things like "percentage of income spent on just living: food and shelter"

I was buying a piece of tenderloin in Costco once a week. In a short time the average price went from about $150 to $200. I could still afford it but something in me cringe so I stopped buying it. That is in Canada

Ground beef prices at Costco went up a boat load as well. Costco only sells things at most a 2% markup so Costco prices are a pretty good metric for inflation.

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

#895

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…

I saw $6.99 for a pack of 12 flour tortillas yesterday. Could not believe it. At that price I'll try making my own.

Flour and sugar based products are both absurdly high profit margin and the cause of the obesity pandemic (not a coincidence), you could make your own stuff for cheap, or just cut so the majority of flour based products from your diet - either option is a positive direction.

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

#896

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interest rate is the discount facter. Low asset prices may not be equivalently low.

Unless you're rich and make a cash offer.

Then you lose the opportunity cost. No difference.

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

#897
post #737

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The negative moralizing of other people existing is genuinely out of control in California. From housing, to transportation, to climate change, to conservation, the major cities just causally like to pretend that if we can may other people go away, it'll solve our problems. It's thrown around causally like it's the state of nature, or an actual workable solution to anything.

I think the basis for this feeling is that people keep moving here. We feel it when traffic gets worse, etc... Not really sure IF there's a real solution. The more people there are, the worse things get in small spaces. We have an entire country that is mostly empty.

Yeah, but you can't move to the empty space either. People will complain that's a desert and nobody should be allowed to live there cuz water. Or that its uninhabitable because the current population is distasteful to coastal sensibilities. Or it's too hot and humid or too cold and windy. Or whatever.

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

#898

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no incentive to produce more stuff if you can just price gouge your current supply for equal or more profit with less manufacturing investment. Especially for necessities like electronics or food where your entire supply will be sold regardless. You might say there's then an incentive to undercut, sure, but if you undercut too much you'll be left with no inventory as the rest of the manufacturers decide on fi…

Why not? Surely if you can get away with price gouging, then you would want to price gouge on more stuff, right? Of course, there are diminishing returns here, because as you produce more stuff, you might be able to gouge less and less. But certainly there must be some max-profit equilibrium higher than the current price, if you are already able to gouge. Price gouging usually leads to producing more stuff, if it goe…

In many countries there is a tendency in healthcare to perform a lot of medically unnecessary or even harmful surgeries (back, hips,...) to make a larger profit. The optimal treatment would be cheaper and less profitable, so it is not chosen.

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

#899

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw $6.99 for a pack of 12 flour tortillas yesterday. Could not believe it. At that price I'll try making my own.

I find comments like this weird, I never think about purchases that small. I honestly have no idea how much I pay for tortillas normally but $7 would not even be a blip on my mental radar

Even if you don't care about a few dollars, careless excess spending can drive prices up.

I don't care, really, whether the box of macaroni and cheese I buy is $0.35 or $1.69. But I'll tend to buy the cheaper, just because I don't want to contribute to the success of the higher price point. It's my fight for the common man.

All my efforts are completely negated when my wife goes shopping :(

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

#900

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Surely if you can get away with price gouging, then you would want to price gouge on more stuff, right? Of course, there are diminishing returns here, because as you produce more stuff, you might be able to gouge less and less. But certainly there must be some max-profit equilibrium higher than the current price, if you are already able to gouge. Price gouging usually leads to producing more stuff, if it goe…

Supermarkets in my area have a near monopoly and don’t meaningfully compete anymore - they can charge whatever people will pay. It’s all owned by Kroger and the nearest non Kroger supermarket is a dozen miles away.

There's a supply and there's demand. Prices will continue to increase as long as people demand the goods and are willing to pay the price.
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