R2OK!

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Much has been made in the media of the inflation rates published yesterday.

The annual rate of increase in the Consumer Prices Index was marginally lower at 3.0%; the Retail Prices Index, which includes house prices and mortgage payments, and is used by employers and funds to calculate salary and pension rises, is just 0.1%.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4681597/Pay-freezes-for-workers-as-inflation-hits-lowest-level-for-50-years-experts-warn.html

The Government is worried that the former is not coming down (to its target of 2%) fast enough; but they and the various financial commentators are worried about the latter going into negative territory as it is a measure of the deepening recession and general economic ills.

Well, since they have tinkered about with the constitution of these indicators, the simple solution might be to tinker about a bit more; after all. when times are hard we are less likely to be buying expensive consumer durables and luxury cars than we are food and drink to live day-to-day on.

Which brings me to an interesting point. You have to search for it - it is shown in the tangible paper, but not on the online pages - but the official rate of food and drink price inflation is 10.2%. In fact, according to The Grocer Price Index, maintained by the trade's magazine, price inflation at the Big Four supermarkets, which account for 85% of the market, is running at 15.1%.

At that rate it will cost double what it now does just to feed ourselves in five years time. Should we not all be getting a tad concerned at that as well?
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Ron

Rachel · Guest

Ron, they're all full of big fat lies.

Nothing, is as it is presented to the public, but there is nothing we can do about it. They change everything to suit themselves, to make them look as good as possible- so that we vote for them. Given that everything we hear is tweaked - rubbed out - made up and presented in the best possible light for the Government, we are in some pretty bad and very deep dodo.

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:12 pm Post subject:

Rachel, I'm sure you'd be the first to say that your comments would apply to a government of any hue Wink

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MiS

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

I don't think either of us mentioned the hue of the party in Government.

They're all very adept at deception and massaging figures to suit their own purpose and propaganda. The one that's been sitting in power for the last eleven years, with absolute access to and control of all information, has made a fine art of it.
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Ron

Rachel · Guest

Yeah , MiS they're all from the same caserole really, apart from our Vince that is.. Smile

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Still going up: Despite all the half-price offers, rollbacks and price-crunches, retail prices rose by 1.3% in February, with the year-on-year figure edging up to 15.4%.

Falling exchange rates, delays in the effect of falling commodity prices (a lot of them soared last year, and prices were quick to rise then) and last summers wet weather are being blamed. Some analysts are also blaming us the consumer for downtrading out of those tasty but expensive premium items and more into the basic/economy ones. The premium lines carry a higher profit margin - if we buy more of the cheap stuff they have to put the price of those up to make some money. And they have Rolling Eyes

You may have noticed substantially higher prices in the last month for sugar, and anything that contains sugar, like soft drinks, even those diet ones which don't have sugar in them; some frozen food, and cucumbers and avocados, because of poor harvests in Spain and Chile.
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Ron

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Lest I be accused of disseminating only bad news on this subject, it is interesting to note that the annual rate of food price inflation up to 31st July, as measured by The Grocer's survey of the big supermarkets, has dropped to 4.8%, helped by lower fresh fruit and veg prices, and also, it has to be said, a measure of holding back on passing on sharply higher world prices for some basic commodities - sugar, tea, coffee and chocolate.
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Ron