"The Great Reset"... back to medieval serfdom.
BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
31–40 of 146 posts
Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#32Good karma for a former colonialist empire…anyways, their ceremonial king is a billionaire while the average citizens bear the grunt of the decline.
Ironically enough, one of the strengths of a monarchy is a good king could absolutely prevent this and set the empire on a path to enriching the British populace. And if not they run a high risk of losing their head. Nowadays we’ve all embraced democracy (oligarchy run by demagogues) and it’s a lot harder to hold anyone accountable. Everyone knows the British monarch is “powerless”, so they quibble amongst one anothe…
A monarchy is more responsive to the needs of its citizens than a representative democracy? I realize we've all become jaded cynics over the western flavor of republic recently, but history and even present day monarchies show this to be nonsense.
Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given that the current prime minister is a non-dom himself… seems rather unlikely to be in his or any of his friends interests.
For those that don't have any idea what a non-dom is (like myself), BBC says: "Non-dom" is short for "non-domiciled individual". It's a term used for a UK resident whose permanent home, or domicile, is outside the UK. "Non-dom" is a description of tax status.
Am I understanding this right, that the leader of the UK has his official residence outside of the country in order to evade taxes? If so, it's pretty wild that that's accepted
Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#34Funny, central bankers advocating for wage price restraints are in effect calling for price controls (on labour). Except when anyone calls for price controls in any other context (goods, commodities, services) they are generally shot down by mainstream economists because they create market distortions which eventually leads to unwanted side effects. Odd little disparity there.
No where is he quoted advocating for wage controls. If anything his actual conversation is explaining why changes in wages do not impact inflation.
Well he isn't directly but:
> someone needs to accept that they’re worse off and stop trying to maintain their real spending power by bidding up prices, whether higher wages or passing the energy costs through on to customers.
Coupled with prior remarks from the BoE governor:
> In the sense of saying, we do need to see a moderation of wage rises, now that's painful. I don't want to in any sense sugar that, it is painful
And add to that politicians using that (amongst other things) to deny pay rises for healthcare workers who've had a real-terms cut to wages of 25%+ over the past decade (when inflation was supposedly under control yet easy money was pumping risk assets like stocks).
Together, it all paints a picture of: hey we can't control prices for food and energy, and because of inflation we have to increase taxes, and also we can't pay you more, oh and because we're going to support energy prices we will also have to tax you more.
In totality, one should understand the frustration felt here is a culmination of the inequity that's been slowly building over a long time.
I'm lucky, I'm relatively well off but I don't want to live in a system that screws (or at least appears to screw) the least-well off at every turn.
Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#35A lot of commenters are obsessed with just finding money. You can't eat money. You can't build a house out of it (advisably). Money is only as valuable as the amount of stuff in an economy. More money with the same amount of stuff is just inflation. The Pound does not need more inflation. Money and trade are only valuable in so much as they aid exchange and efficiency. On a real, practical-level Brexit made England m…
> There are a lot of export commodities they no longer have a market for Exports to the EU hit a record high in the summer of 2022, which ironically, was mainly because of commodities. Who'd have thought? https://www.ft.com/content/47fe0d2a-6e87-4f30-8212-3b37f7f09...
I can’t access the FT article - is that in inflation adjusted/real terms? I know that in 2022 as a whole their trade deficit with the EU broadly increased in size and percent.
Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#36> Pill was more direct. He said there’s a “reluctance to accept that yes, we’re all worse off and we all have to take our share.” They should look into taxing the various British Overseas Territories which usually top lists of tax havens across the world [1]. I am not sure if the regular British public is just ignorant of the existence of these, or prefers to run with the limited set of facts that their Conservative…
>"we’re all worse off and we all have to take our share" Who is this 'we'? Only the poor and the middle class are worse off and being squeezed by the CoL. The big industry players, ruling, upper and asset owning class are all making bank. Do they think people like Tony Blair or Lord McMansion are affected that food, electricity and gas are all up? There is no 'we' here.
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Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#37How about they start the "acceptance" at the BOE. Cut their salaries. Then, cut all MP salaries. Then, cut government employee salaries. Then, tax the wealth of the rich (and not just income). When these noble people "accept" poverty themselves, that ought to bring inflation down.
I think similar solutions have often been tried in the last decades in other countries and often fail. I’m thinking Zimbabwe (although I admit I am incredibly ignorant about the history there).
Why do you think everyone would be better off after following your suggestions?
Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#38Funny, central bankers advocating for wage price restraints are in effect calling for price controls (on labour). Except when anyone calls for price controls in any other context (goods, commodities, services) they are generally shot down by mainstream economists because they create market distortions which eventually leads to unwanted side effects. Odd little disparity there.
No where is he quoted advocating for wage controls. If anything his actual conversation is explaining why changes in wages do not impact inflation.
Pill (BOE economist) is advocating for wage price restraints, which is what the parent observed.
The parent then said it is in effect calling for price controls on labor, which is true.
Pill is then recorded as saying wages do contribute to inflation:
> "He said that firms and workers are in a “pass the parcel game” that’s causing more persistent price pressures, contributing to the UK’s main inflation rate remaining stuck in double digits."
The final parent comment captures a very common line in corporate media messaging: which is that wages always need to be suppressed lest inflation rear its head, but corporate profits never should because that is market distortion and not related to inflation.
Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#39A lot of commenters are obsessed with just finding money. You can't eat money. You can't build a house out of it (advisably). Money is only as valuable as the amount of stuff in an economy. More money with the same amount of stuff is just inflation. The Pound does not need more inflation. Money and trade are only valuable in so much as they aid exchange and efficiency. On a real, practical-level Brexit made England m…
> There are a lot of export commodities they no longer have a market for Exports to the EU hit a record high in the summer of 2022, which ironically, was mainly because of commodities. Who'd have thought? https://www.ft.com/content/47fe0d2a-6e87-4f30-8212-3b37f7f09...
https://www.export.org.uk/news/631720/UK-trade-deficit-with-....
In total, imports from the EU, excluding precious metals, hit £82bn whilst exports to the EU were valued at £49.2bn. This represents an increase of 7.5% in imported goods and a decrease of 6.1% in exports.
The UK’s total imports of goods decreased by £3.5bn (-2.1%) in Q4 2022 compared with Q3. Goods imports from non-EU countries fell in this time period (10.4%).
Exports of goods over the same period decreased by £4.5bn (4.5%), with exports to both the EU and non-EU countries falling.
Re: BOE Chief Economist Says Britons ‘Need to Accept’ They’re Worse Off
#40How about they start the "acceptance" at the BOE. Cut their salaries. Then, cut all MP salaries. Then, cut government employee salaries. Then, tax the wealth of the rich (and not just income). When these noble people "accept" poverty themselves, that ought to bring inflation down.
I think similar solutions have often been tried in the last decades in other countries and often fail. I’m thinking Zimbabwe (although I admit I am incredibly ignorant about the history there). Why do you think everyone would be better off after following your suggestions?
> Why do you think everyone would be better off after following your suggestions?
When inequality is lower, economy booms.