Cost Of Living 'Crisis'

[fools]

if the pie is the same size, just sliced up differently, that probably has no effect on inflation ... unless the workers suddenly getting a massive wedge all go out and splash it on products that are in limited supply

 

but ... if people pay rises ... prices inevitably rise too, to match .. it's circular

Edited July 21, 2023 by fools

[Delbow]

7 minutes ago, fools said:

if the pie is the same size, just sliced up differently, that probably has no effect on inflation ... unless the workers suddenly getting a massive wedge all go out and splash it on products that are in limited supply

That seems unlikely.

 

Ok, what about the current causes of inflation? It's not running at about 8% because workers went on strike to get money to spend on scarce items is it? One of the key drivers is price speculation at the outset of the Ukraine war, mainly relating to fuel and wheat. There turned out to be no real fuel shortage in the end, but commodities brokers made sure the price went up anyway. In the process, they themselves made a lot of money, working as they do on commission. Let's remember that brokers don't produce anything themselves.  The increase in the cost of fuel, despite the non-shortage as alternatives to Russian fuel were found, drove inflation. Food prices in particular because there were grain shortages and probably will be again. But the supermarkets, as @Organgrinder points out, have kept the price of food and fuel artificially high. This is inflationary, surely we can all see that. And most of the workers trying to get higher pay are doing so to keep up with the inflationary behaviour of others - why are we not focusing our ire on those others instead?

[fools]

1 hour ago, Delbow said:

That seems unlikely.

 

Ok, what about the current causes of inflation?@Organgrinder points out, have kept the price of food and fuel artificially high. This is inflationary, surely we can all see that. And most of the workers trying to get higher pay are doing so to keep up with the inflationary behaviour of others - why are we not focusing our ire on those others instead?

if he has, he's wrong - scroll back a few posts, supermarkets haven't done that

 

the rise in fuel costs were in the pipeline well before Ukraine. The markets and reasons are complex, especially when you've got countries shutting down their power generation methods for ideological reasons.

 

as for inflation, it's been inevitable since the early 2000s, low interest rates, printing money, paying people to stay at home, millions on benefits, more people studying rather than working, massive increase in migration for 20 years. Covid tipped it over the edge, completely messing up the supply chain for goods.

 

gas was 2 or 3 p per kwh a few years ago (2016-2021), I'd argue that is an absolute bargain, (as is the cost of water) - that's because of markets

 

imagine you worked at a company, who also supplied all your needs, you ask for a 10% rise, to fund that they might need to raise their prices by 20% if they are heavily reliant on staff ... do you still want a rise?

Edited July 21, 2023 by fools

[Anna B]

1 hour ago, Delbow said:

But how is that relevant to inflation? Dock workers at Felixstowe got a 15.5% pay increase at the back end of last year after going on strike, which the employer could easily afford as it's a very profitable port. Are you saying the pay settlement wasn't inflationary because the business is doing well?

It's relevant because the gap between executive pay and the workers pay is now so huge, it's skewing everything including inflation. And Executive pay levels are not related to hard work and success, ('because you have to pay the best to get the best,' my arse ...) as it's been well proved Executives are definitely not worth it. They're so ridiculously well paid because Executives have been allowed a free hand to award themselves whatever they want, and they're very very greedy.

 

Also, when did it become normal to allow pay awards to go up by percentages right across the board?

5% of low wages is still very low, whereas 5% of hundreds of thousands is very nice indeed thankyou. 

And so the pay gap, instead of decreasing, increases exponentially...

[harvey19]

9 minutes ago, Anna B said:

It's relevant because the gap between executive pay and the workers pay is now so huge, it's skewing everything including inflation. And Executive pay levels are not related to hard work and success, ('because you have to pay the best to get the best,' my arse ...) as it's been well proved Executives are definitely not worth it. They're so ridiculously well paid because Executives have been allowed a free hand to award themselves whatever they want, and they're very very greedy.

 

Also, when did it become normal to allow pay awards to go up by percentages right across the board?

5% of low wages is still very low, whereas 5% of hundreds of thousands is very nice indeed thankyou. 

And so the pay gap, instead of decreasing, increases exponentially...

It is no good people complaining about high salary earners when it is percentage salary rises which give the highest paid big increases and increases the gap between the top and lowest paid.

Makes one wonder why the unions have not challenged this.

[fools]

18 minutes ago, Anna B said:

It's relevant because the gap between executive pay and the workers pay is now so huge

nhs wage bill is 66 billion pounds, what were you saying about executive pay?

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, fools said:

nhs wage bill is 66 billion pounds, what were you saying about executive pay?

Anna is perfectly correct and what any employers  total wage bill is nothing to do with executives having more than their fair share.

As has already been pointed out,  what counts is how the pie is shared and the same applies for a small employer as it does for a big one.

We know that fools,  like the Tory's he supports,   always likes to appear knowledgeable,  and comes up with excuses to keep the little man down but the whole nation has caught on to this.

Yesterday's voting should have told him that but,  like Sunak,  he's still claiming yesterday as a success.  It's wise to ignore someone with prejudiced political blindness.

 

 

[RollingJ]

Just now, Organgrinder said:

Anna is perfectly correct and what any employers  total wage bill is nothing to do with executives having more than their fair share.

As has already been pointed out,  what counts is how the pie is shared and the same applies for a small employer as it does for a big one.

We know that fools,  like the Tory's he supports,   always likes to appear knowledgeable,  and comes up with excuses to keep the little man down but the whole nation has caught on to this.

Yesterday's voting should have told him that but,  like Sunak,  he's still claiming yesterday as a success.  It's wise to ignore someone with prejudiced political blindness.

 

 

Ah, that explains why I now ignore you.

[fools]

3 minutes ago, Organgrinder said:

 It's wise to ignore someone with prejudiced political blindness.

 

 

do you have a black kettle

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

Ah, that explains why I now ignore you.

Please do,  but you're not ignoring me at all actually.   Can't you even get that right ?

I've told you before that you don't have any views but just a need to try and pull other posters down,  especially when you've  been trumped.

We're talking about cost of living, share of the financial pie  etc.  but no comments from you  in that respect   -   only comments about me.     You do show yourself up.

 

8 minutes ago, fools said:

do you have a black kettle

Is that connected to this thread ?

Another one you see.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Organgrinder