erebus Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 So we are told that inflation has risen 0.5% and before that rising a percentage or two or so every year. Like drugged zombies we accept this drivel and a few might complain. But what of the reality, food had risen between 20% and 120% depending on what you buy in the supermarket in the last couple of years, fuel has risen almost 50% and as for energy, the things you heat your home and cook with has doubled over the last 5 years or so. So when I hear the propaganda telling me the usual lies, I react, shout at the newspaper, the TV, radio, for all to hear, and maybe wake up, to the biggest heist ever put on people. But dare anyone look into the future? How long before £10 a gallon of petrol? How long before the frail pensioners start to die in droves, in cold spells, as they chose either to die well fed through hypothermia, or warm and comfortable while they starved? With less money around how can anyone help you, or your family if you lost your job, and all on offer was the joke of part time, minimum wage world. How long would the help last before they found you lazy, and worthless? Wages for some will fall, others will stay the same, while all prices rise around you, and living the good life becomes a memory. This will not happen overnight, its gradual, taking 5-10 years to make the majority of people paupers, where landlords are kings again, and pawning essentials become shared norms. This is democracy at work, where you have choices, except the choices are not always the ones you choose, but have to choose between. Welcome to the ever increasing depression, recession, deflation, inflationary world, where you have no say, corporations decide the sort of life you live, as they provide the shriveled tit for you to suckle on. On the other hand why not pretend its not happening, and life is getting better, employment and wages are going up, and the future is looking bright. Food prices will fall, as will energy, landlords and rents will fall, and the streets are paved with gold! Europe is fed up with the lies, they demonstrate, and the militerised police attempt to beat them back into accepting their place as revolting peasants. They complain about be sold off like cattle to the banks, as they work for next to nothing, while being asked to contribute to corporate profits. Not like over here where the energy companies, the supermarkets, the landlord class make billions in profits and millions in bonuses for the few. We like to see corporate success even if they are screwing us all to be successful. It gives us hope maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mecky Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 The other side of the story, used to lower inflation, is to lower salaries or make people unemployed. (High unemployment is a price worth paying for low inflation, remember that comment?) Lowering inflation also lowers demand and sinks economies further into recession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem1st Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Past 5 years RPI inflation @ 23% Minimum social rent rises have been 26% (some much more). Minimum wage up 8%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S10mainly Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Past 5 years RPI inflation @ 23% Minimum social rent rises have been 26% (some much more). Minimum wage up 8%. You seem to think that a Minimum Wage is what people earn... Its a Minimum not a standard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 (High unemployment is a price worth paying for low inflation, remember that comment?) Well inflation was 18% at the time. Historical UK Inflation And Price Conversion Look at 1980. Or even 1975. 24.2% inflation! You're probably too young to remember all that. Lowering inflation also lowers demand and sinks economies further into recession. How do you work that out then? During the so-called boom time of the noughties, wasn't inflation supposed to be low as well? Gordon Brown's low inflation economy Lowering inflation didn't seem to have had that effect then. That's assuming that inflation is low, which going by food, gas and electricity prices (y'know, the stuff we actually need to consume, unlike iPads and Blu-ray players) it clearly isn't. The way the inflation rate is calculated has changed an awful lot since the 1970s. Lowering inflation also lowers demand and sinks economies further into recession. Odd really that during the period of Britain's economic dominance of the world (1850-1914), there was no inflation, in fact, a benign form of deflation. The long and tragic history of the pound A slightly larger version of the House of Commons chart can be viewed here [LINK] Notice how purchasing power remains largely unchanged from 1750 to 1914, an indication of negligible inflation. Notice how, since 1914, the purchasing power of Sterling has gone off a cliff. In 1914 of course, we came off the gold standard to print all the money we needed for WWI. Printy, printy. Currency debasement, that's what causes inflation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acman Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12196322 The link, above, is an "explanation" by the BBC economics section of their news site about inflation and what it is. They state that inflation is a measure of price rises. Wrong. Price rises are an indirect measure of inflation of the money supply in the absence of an increased demand for it as well as being a measure of other things that effect the exchange rate of money. In other words, price rises (or falls), which is what the CPI and RPI are measuring, are indirect measures of the exchange value of sterling in relation to the things it is exchanged for None of this is complicated and yet we constantly see it being misrepresented in the MSM. There can be no doubt that this is deliberate misinformation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12196322 The link, above, is an "explanation" by the BBC economics section of their news site about inflation and what it is. They state that inflation is a measure of price rises. Wrong. Price rises are an indirect measure of inflation of the money supply in the absence of an increased demand for it as well as being a measure of other things that effect the exchange rate of money. In other words, price rises (or falls), which is what the CPI and RPI are measuring, are indirect measures of the exchange value of sterling in relation to the things it is exchanged for None of this is complicated and yet we constantly see it being misrepresented in the MSM. There can be no doubt that this is deliberate misinformation. I couldn't agree more. I was watching the riots in Europe yesterday, and wondered why Britain hadn't been included in the day of action, only to discover it was, but this was given scant media time. We are constantly at the mercy of media bias and misinformation to an alarmingly increasing degree. I for one am sick of being lied to. The coverage of inflation is just one aspect, there are many others. Yet even on here people are still being accused of being 'conspiracy theorists' etc and their posts trolled out of existance. I am amazed at the of people on here who still chose to side with the establishment and refuse to believe anything against them. However little by little they must be able to see the manipulation at work. Surely they can recognise at last the 'Divide and conquer' ploy of setting different sections of society against each other - the benefit 'scroungers' etc. which takes the spotlight off those responsible for our current plight. However it has to be said that a lot of people (particularly some young people) know next to nothing about politics and show no interest in it whatsoever. It's their future and an awful lot is at stake, but how do you wake them up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikem8634 Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 "It’s great to be what you people are now calling a plutocrat. I know. I am one. We plutocrats live incredible lives, surrounded by luxury and insulated from risk and discomfort. Things have gone very well for us over the last several years. Since George Bush left office, the stock market has doubled, we got a (sweet!) $700 billion rescue of the financial system, and corporate profits are at a 50-year high. BOOYA! The growing economic distance between people like me and the little people like you hasn’t been this great in a long, long time. You may call that inequality. We call it freedom. But if things are going to continue to go this well, you people need to get with the program. Here, I’d like to have a frank discussion about that. It is something of a puzzle to many of you little people why we plutocrats, who have benefitted most from these trends, view President Obama with such intense disdain. Why, you might ask, given how good the economy has been to you plutocrats, are you so maniacally angry? “Maybe,” you say to yourself, “I just don’t understand economics.” I’ll let you in on a little secret. You understand economics just fine. What you don’t understand is that this fight isn’t about economics. It’s about status, privileges and power. People like me don’t hate Obama because he’s going to raise our taxes, although we hate that plenty. We hate him because his views about the importance and primacy of the middle class diminish our status. The threat he represents isn’t economic; it’s existential. It’s not just our pocket books that are threatened, but, more importantly, our prestige and our influence on this country. Our manhood is at stake. Facts are for little people. We plutocrats have a long and proud history of controlling human societies, and the belief systems that we create about how the world works enable us to do that. “Earth is the center of the solar system” was a useful one for us in the past. “Lowering taxes on the rich produces growth” is one of our current favorites. You show me an orthodox belief, and I’ll show you plutocrats who benefit from it. Without me and my money, you wouldn't even have a job. We understand human nature well enough to know that people believe and accept ideas for all sorts of reasons, but rarely because of facts or evidence. Mostly, people believe what suits them, what makes them feel good. And what makes us feel good is a set of beliefs that reinforce our status, privileges and power. So it’s both annoying and hilarious that you people think you’re going to be able to talk us out of being plutocrats with “evidence” or “facts”. Our current position and power is the only fact we care about. And we viscerally hate anyone who has the temerity to challenge it. When Jack or Mitt or I call ourselves “Job Creators”, it isn’t because it’s true or that there is any evidence for it. It’s because being a job creator puts us right at the center of the economic universe – where we deserve to be. This belief system isn’t just convenient to us, although it is. It’s essential in order to justify our status and power. We used to call this divine right. Today we call it “economics”. You say democracy. We say plutocracy. You need to understand that as job creators, at the center of the economic universe, the better we do, the better it must be for you. In particular, the richer we get and the less constrained by law and regulation we are, the more jobs will trickle downward. Basically, the less we plutocrats contribute to society in tax, and the less constrained we are, the better it is for you and everyone else. And you thought we didn’t care! Maybe someday I'll give you a job serving me on my plane. You need to accept as fact the idea that all prosperity trickles down from the top. That means that, economically speaking, we plutocrats matter. It also means that you don’t matter. Tax cuts for the rich create growth and jobs. Investments in the middle class and the poor balloon the deficit and will bankrupt this great country. National budget priorities that reflect this will be great for you and your family. Really. A bard once said that plutocrats hate regulation for the same reason that robbers hate cops. That’s a cheap shot, and underappreciates the sophistication of our argument. Since we are the “job creators”, any restraint on us necessarily decreases the jobs that trickle down to you. That’s why we deserve a free hand to run the country in whatever way suits us best. You show me a country with limited government and regulation, and I’ll show you some happy plutocrats busily “job-creating”. Get With The Program! So what’s puzzling you about why we hate Obama? He’s in our way. And that’s a much bigger threat to us than higher tax rates. Our incredible sway over politics, the economy and culture is being challenged. Repeat after me. You sir, are a job creator and the richer you get, the better off my family will be. Regulation is bad, and the less of it we have, the better off my family will be. Never forget these things. And never forget that the rising inequality you see all around isn’t a sign of decay. It’s a sign of prosperity. Get with the program. Now. Or we will fire you." Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-message-from-us-rich-plutocrats-to-all-you-little-people-2012-11#ixzz2CLNe61k2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erebus Posted November 17, 2012 Author Share Posted November 17, 2012 Well interesting post and most persuasive argument, in fact almost a fact except if one repeats a lie often enough it becomes accepted as a truth. In some cases like weapons of mass destruction this lie worked for long enough for the ends, the liberation of the oil, to justify the ends. Thus repeated lies work provided the ignorant do nothing but accept lies as facts. Getting paid millions, is fine and some have billions, but what happens to the money? Are these billions or millions put into creating jobs? So what do these 1% do with this money? Rush out and and do what? Create products out of thin air, that people want to have? Who can afford these products and are they wanted? The fact is they put the money in the bank, or invest it in existing financial products, and sloshes around creating no jobs at all. How much do might these moneyed flushed spend? How many cars, houses, holidays, cruisers, and such do they purchase? Is it a continuous thing making those companies employ people permanently or is it a temporary thing? Employed till the job is done and then redundant? Making products is always a precarious thing, who will buy it, will they buy it, and only if they buy it can jobs be created on a permanent basis, if the demand keeps on going. Otherwise its temporary job spike. So paying people less allows less money to be spent on products, and one has to have products people en-mass can afford. How many tens of thousands of people make Ferrari cars? Well not that many as its only the few that can afford such cars, whereas a ford employs thousands as ordinary, the mass of people can afford one. So money makes money providing the situations are in place for growth. They are not in place for growth these days with the misers hoarding the cash, and trickle down, paying the in house cook and gardeners, does not allow them to splash the cash around so those down the line can buy a cruiser. These days its food, energy and fuel, so where is this flood of trickle down, except in the head's of misers. Misers can afford to sell the lies, they know the people to know in the media, as they can afford to take them to lunch, adding a temporary waiter to the job count maybe. Wake up, misers, do not create wealth, they hoard wealth so YOU can not get your hands on any of their money. They make you envy them so you can look up to them, wishing for their lifestyle, of wine women and whatever. They make you beg for scraps, while cutting wages, offering you hope of a better tomorrow, while giving you a crap life today. Its a game, and you loose, because you believe the lies, that make them think they are different, when they, like royalty, the thieves of years ago, pretend their sh*t does not stink, while you have to wipe their bottoms. Hence the saying bottom feeders, those that live off crap, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikem8634 Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Just for the sake of clarity my previous post - 8 - is an example of satire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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