Agreed Doc, One of the reason for one currency in Europe was so food and other items would be sold at same price, especially food, that didn't work out cos of greed....
For what it is worth, here's my view. I am far less politically passionate than many on here (got more splinters than Matt). At the risk of OLOF removing the fabled leather jacket when we meet, I can see some of the good that Thatcher achieved but also recognise much of the pain she caused. I admire many socialist values but understand why Blair had to move labour far more centrally to have any hope of power. I own a small manufacturing business in the uk and feared Brexit. This was as in a fear of the unknown way rather than terror that it would be a doomsday scenario. Things were flat for months running up to the vote but since business has thrived. Companies we have dealt with for years are now winning orders that they never previously did. Much of this goes into UK construction but things like pre made glazed or clad units were being assembled in places like Poland, now it seems British companies are winning this work. We are benefiting and have recruited on the back of it. On the flip side, some suppliers are circling wanting price increases. As with Unilever some will be batted back (not just by us) and will have to relent, negotiate or suffer (job losses, closures etc). Some will get their increases because there are no alternatives. Our dilemma will be, do we take the extra work and absorb the increases or try and pass some or all of them on. How will it pan out over three to five years? I for one am not smart enough to know but my educated guess is it will be neither Doomsday nor Utopia simply because that is how the world tends to work. There will be plenty of chest thumping but there will be winners and losers and a new normality will prevail. Can tell that some of you guys are very passionate and savvy to go with it but there is no way that great minds with polar opposite opinions will both be right and my guess is it will be somewhere in the middle (comfy with my splinters).
Very sensible Marcos,but you do realise Glory will never accept the end of the world is not near.How can he when he has built a Nuclear shelter in his back garden and spent £20,000 on pot noodles waiting for their price rise which Tesco have now cancelled.
Naughty! I know it is in the name of good debate but I believe there is room for middle ground in a debate and he who shouts loudest is not necessarily right - whichever side they are shouting from
And a lot are traded in dollars as well. So many companies are going to go to the wall as the likes of Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys et al refuse to accept the price rises that these companies need to make to keep going. One way or another prices are going to rise significantly, however much posturing the big supermarkets do over the coming months while the little guys go to the wall. You can't just ignore a drop from $1.45-$1.50 to $1.20 to $1.25, its massive. I'm seeing it first hand, we're being squeezed and squeezed to the point where eventually we might as well just turn the lights off and all go home. People that voted for Brexit have been saying all along "short term pain for long term gain", well if thats the case then they should be sucking up the price rises that in effect, they voted for!!
Well lets wait and see if Unilever go bust,I say they wont and will make a good profit without the 10% price rise.
At what point did i say Unlilever would go bust? "while the little guys go to the wall..." We should all go work for Unilever then, is that the way ahead? I've got to assume you've never had dealings with the big supermarkets, and therefore ought to cut you some slack tbf. I've dealt with them for 20 odd years and year on year they continue to squeeze their suppliers, effectively forcing many of them to the wall. But i'll tell you this, what Tesco did this week was posturing to win over customers, they will have to eventually (well they've started already) to accept price rises from suppliers and will have to implement their own increases. Its innevitable. The canny people will notice the rises and the others will just believe the spin and advertising from the big supermarkets about them refusing all price rises from those nasty suppliers. Yeah right
The bit that you don't mention is that company's who deal mostly in Dollars and Euro's have seen staff wages reduced by 20-25 % because they are paid in Sterling.Swings and Roundabouts gain some bits lose others,unilever only mention one side of it,notice they didn't try to cut prices due to lower wage costs.
Tesco will always squeeze there suppliers,its supply and demand,if they want your goods enough they will pay,if they can get cheaper elsewhere they will,but its always been that way,nothing new.
I don't imagine for one minute that Unliver staff in the UK are paid from abroad. I would imagine that Unliver UK pay them in £'s as they always will have done, from UK funds You do also realise that say Unilever UK made for arguments sake £10,000,000 on its UK distributions that was worth around 13 million Euro's to those nasty foreigners and is now worth not much more than what it is in £'s? We're a British company and we buy in $'s and Euro's and sell in £'s like 1000's of others in the UK do. None of us are gaining anything from the exchange rate, far from it.
I can't remember the last time the value of the £ was devalued by so much so quickly, can you? Supply cna demand is nothing new, but make no mistake we are entering whole new waters here, this is something new. What you don't seem to get is Tesco will posture and posture and posture and in that meantime small businesses will go bust and people will lose their jobs, BUT innevitably the price rises will happen, so those job losses will have been for nothing.
Wish i could continue to debate about these great supermarket chains that we all have to use, but i've got sh*t to do. Have a good weekend and will continue next week, until eventually you see the light
