Cost Of Living 'Crisis'

[Guest]

1 minute ago, fools said:

please explain, for us youngsters at the back

 

maybe Sibon can help with the bananas

It would be too hard to explain to fools like you.

Anna is perfectly correct.

Looks like you'll have to study history to see why.

 

[fools]

2 minutes ago, Organgrinder said:

It would be too hard to explain to fools like you.

Anna is perfectly correct.

Looks like you'll have to study history to see why.

 

11, try 111

 

are you short of Potassium

Edited July 20, 2023 by fools

[Delbow]

22 hours ago, fools said:

so what

 

do you understand the term profit margin, did you not play shop in infant school

Your previously stated view is that if wages are to increase, this should be accompanied by increases in productivity so as not to cause inflation. So if supermarkets simply charge more for items and increase their profit margin without any attendant increase in their productivity, by your metric that is quite obviously inflationary isn't it?

[fools]

42 minutes ago, Delbow said:

Your previously stated view is that if wages are to increase, this should be accompanied by increases in productivity so as not to cause inflation. So if supermarkets simply charge more for items and increase their profit margin without any attendant increase in their productivity, by your metric that is quite obviously inflationary isn't it?

you misconstrue the earlier point, I said if employees want more money, they need to produce more, the external rate of inflation is not relevant in pay bargaining, unless the business is bringing in more revenue due to higher prices, whilst at the same time managing to reduce their costs

 

Businesses can charge what they like,, there is not some duty from them to worry about inflation, that's the boe's job, who have been printing money like crazy since 2008, as well as giving it away with near zero interest rates, and the govts job - who have been spending money like crazy, leading to the highest taxes for decades, both stirring up inflation.

 

as for supermarkets, here is a line from the recent cma report

 

"Operating profits in the retail grocery sector fell by 41.5% in 2022/23, compared with the previous year while average operating margins fell from 3.2% to 1.8%. This is due to retailers’ costs increasing faster than their revenues, indicating that rising costs have not been passed on in full to consumers."

 

It also said, supermarkets are still the cheapest place for fuel, so the lefties are frothing over nothing as usual

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by fools

[Delbow]

Ok, but in the context of inflation, why do workers need to produce more if they want more money but executives and shareholders don't? 

[fools]

2 minutes ago, Delbow said:

Ok, but in the context of inflation, why do workers need to produce more if they want more money but executives and shareholders don't? 

executive pay, and shareholder dividends, are normally tied to the success or not of the business. Dividend yields go down in bad years

[Delbow]

Just now, fools said:

executive pay, and shareholder dividends, are normally tied to the success or not of the business. Dividend yields go down in bad years

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?

[fools]

1 minute 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 (partially) depends on how much they are charging for their services.

 

if everyone in the country got a 15.5% pay rise without any increases in output, that is clearly inflationary, because there is a lot more money sloshing around for the same amount of goods.

 

Consultants on 127k are currently striking with a 7.5m backlog of patients, do you think they should get a rise?

[Delbow]

4 minutes ago, fools said:

it (partially) depends on how much they are charging for their services.

 

if everyone in the country got a 15.5% pay rise without any increases in output, that is clearly inflationary, because there is a lot more money sloshing around for the same amount of goods.

 

Consultants on 127k are currently striking with a 7.5m backlog of patients, do you think they should get a rise?

Consultants are generally very well paid and quality is variable. Registrars are less well paid I think but count as consultants. From the little I've read, consultants are saying they are striking for better pay to keep the job attractive to new entrants - that probably has merit, but I think consultant quality does need to consistently mirror pay better than it does at the moment. In short, it's not the hill I'm going to die on.

 

I'm interested in this: there is a lot more money sloshing around for the same amount of goods.

 

If a company raises prices to pay higher wages without a corresponding increase in productivity, I can see how that adds to inflation. If workers strike to get a bigger share of the profits but this doesn't result in a rise in the cost of what they produce (i.e., execs and shareholders have to settle for less) would you agree that doesn't contribute to inflation?

 

 

[RJRB]

12 minutes ago, fools said:

it (partially) depends on how much they are charging for their services.

 

if everyone in the country got a 15.5% pay rise without any increases in output, that is clearly inflationary, because there is a lot more money sloshing around for the same amount of goods.

 

Consultants on 127k are currently striking with a 7.5m backlog of patients, do you think they should get a rise?

I think that their pay should have kept pace over the last 12 years ......like many others .