Coffee and Chocolate seem to be a hell of a lot more expensive . I bet the commodity traders have had a field day . Oh and beer in the last 3 years
Yes,never mind the luxurys,what about the bare essentials?(you know,the stuff normal people are struggling to buy).
Maybe not to some,obviously yourself by your statement,but to some they are unaffordable now... My wife and I can't afford to buy coffee some weeks,does that surprise or amuse you?
Why would it amuse me ? You've obviously misread here I think Read it back I think the rises are ridiculous . I went in Sainsbury's local an hour ago and a 100g Lor instant was £8.25 . It's now dearer than filter coffee from Asda
Rises are that ridiculous that you posted a couple of smiley faces before your post,I haven't misread anything...
Can everyone stop smiling at me It’s disconcerting Joking aside food inflation is dreadful and will be causing significant hardship for many. The fact that we live in such a rich country but so many children live in poverty and the only retail growth area is food banks just shows the system is ****ed
I agree with most of your post but I think this 'Rich Country' image is becoming a bit of a myth...It may appear so on paper but in reality we're falling way behind compared to other Countries. If we're a rich Country there's a huge imbalance somewhere, that leads to political debate,which isn't wise on here.
Depends how you measure ‘rich’ but we’re living in the 6th largest economy in the World so I don’t think we’re falling behind (as a collective…individuals certainly are) It’s the imbalance that is the problem In 2024 UK Billionaires wealth increased by £35m a day. What’s that? £12Bn a year (?) That money comes from somewhere (I know it’s not this simple). Either from elsewhere in the world or ‘earned’ from others of us in the UK. The answer might not be simple, and neither is the detailed maths, but the overall problem is.
I disagree, Dennis , the problem is a lot more complicated. The imbalance in wealth doesn't cause specific food inflation. An Indian steel magnates asset wealth increase of several billion doesnt push up the price of cheddar cheese (unless he's buying it all up). Many countries with the largest wealth imbalances have the cheapest food prices. Coffee and chocolate have gone up globally due to weather and harvest issues. Meat has gone up in the UK because demand has risen, due to population increases of several million in five years, and farmers dont have the immediate capacity to produce more, and at the same time, Brexit has made imports more difficult. It's supply and demand driven inflation, where food is concerned. If you asset tax all the millionaires and spread the money equally, food inflation will still occur if there's a supply issue, or if demand increases.
£8.25 would get you 250g bag of decent single origin beans from an independent roaster, and more of that money would go to the growers, who are almost always undercut by the big companies. You just know that the it’s the multinational company that owns Lor and the supermarket that are profiteering from the £8.25 because there’s no way the ingredients used to make it justify that price.
I do get that, although I’m no economist so I’m certainly out of my area of expertise. I wasn’t talking about food inflation specifically though. I was more talking about poverty and increasing wealth inequality in general.
I’m no economist either. I do like listening to Bill Burr the comedian on stuff like this “ if you’re working 40 hours a week every week and you can’t pay your rent or you can’t afford to go to the dentist then you’re not getting paid enough. Can’t the billionaire be only a 900 millionaire and give the rest it his employees. Some billionaire in the US has said he wants his staff terrified all the time so they have nothing but work how fuxked up is that ? Self regulation never works You only have to look at the water CEO’s awarding themself massive pay rises
If you’re working 40 hours in any job but can’t afford a reasonable home and food then the company you’re working for is exploiting you. The fact the exploitation is legal is irrelevant The most obvious case of this is people working 40 hours a week who are still on working tax credits while the CEO & Shareholders get profits. Those tax credits are paid by us from our taxes, which means the wage is artificially low and effectively all that is happening is our taxes are being funnelled to people who are already rich. Not even those rich peoples fault, it’s the system that allows that (although that’s why rich people pay so much to politicians to make sure the system stays like that, or even gets better for them)
