Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008
CPI is of course the best measure ..............
BBC: Family food shop up '£15 a week'
The highest food costs since 1945 have added £15 to a weekly supermarket shop for a family of four in the UK, new research suggests. Comparison website MySupermarket.co.uk says a basket of 24 staple items including tea bags, milk and eggs costs 15% more than it did 12 months ago. The findings are based on its price comparisons of certain everyday items at Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda. A white loaf was up more than 20% at 65 pence at Tesco and Sainsbury's.
Posted by jack c @ 02:24 PM (1043 views) Add Comment
23 Comments
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1. mark wadsworth said...
To be ruthless about this, good stuff. £800 more spent on food means the average mortgage would have to come down by £800, which lops another £10,000 off house prices.
2. pelethar said...
This is evidence that, even if they don't consciously realise it, people have disconnected from the CPI/RPI measures of inflation. When talking about increases in the cost of living, people now have to resort to this level of real-world detail rather than being able to quote a true, meaningful inflation figure.
3. hpwatcher said...
people now have to resort to this level of real-world detail rather than being able to quote a true, meaningful inflation figure
I bet the politicians hate that, as they can't distort and wangle the numbers so easily to suit themselves. CPI is now completely irrelevant, has no credibility and will be ignored from now on.
Moreover, the 15% increase is further proof just how bad, this Labour government has been.
4. 51ck-6-51x said...
I would not rush to blame the government on this one. Food inflation is the result of global forces, only some of these directly caused by this government (e.g. the recent bio fuel target), the biggest causes I think are trade barriers & taxes, western farmer's subsidies and the weather.
5. Rental John said...
This thread is a bit off message for HPC....but even so we can't place the blame all at Labour's door. This is a global situation driven by high oil prices, raw material costs, and a weak dollar and pound.
The massaging of the CPI / RPI goes back several years - this we can be fully placed at Labour's door.....'but caviar and champagne has dropped in price' I hear them shout.....I guess based on a basket of luxury goods that will drop in price due to lower demand will push the CPI lower - but 'we ain't fooled!'
6. indiablue19 said...
Regardless of who's to blame at the front end of this situation, the food crisis for the people of Great Britain reflects what is happening in all the world, with the exception that Tesco's has no problems whatsoever in declaring a 10% higher profit in sales than last year!! What on earth possesses the people -- and especially of the government -- of the UK as they aid and abet the continued growth and spiraling wealth of an organisation such as this one? Wasn't price collusion of the grocery chains on dairy products enough to convince they are entirely out of control? And, isn't it just time to give that 10% back to the people of Britain who are already struggling rather than to continue supporting the stockholder's greed? The bandit-in-chief of this disgusting Company was deported from Britain once as an immoral slum landlord who also dabbled in voter fraud. Talk about Buy to Let! She's been allowed back now to live in luxury in Mayfair while others tote up the impossible increases on their food bill. Why?
7. Sneaky said...
Remember folks: prices are stable, inflation is low, and the economy is strong.
In the same way that house prices go up forever.
8. Money Scam said...
I would blame the government partly. Inflation is a monetary phenomenon, not a demand / supply imbalance - why else try to stimulate or restrict the economy via the manipulation of interest rates which in effect is the increasing or decreasing of the money supply. M3 growth for the last few years has been running at 15-20%, at least 5 times the velocity the economy has been growing. The government is not the main culprit, but they have certainly aided and abetted the private cartel of banks in allowing them to print money out of thin air and then charge us and them interest for the privilege of doing so. The fact is, our governments have no real power, they are in effect the willing puppets of this very narrow elite. However, they are certainly to blame for not wrestling the power to create money back from them. Witness Tony Blair, a man who has no banking experience whatsoever, being given a cushy number at JP Morgan one of the private owners of the Federal Reserve. Do some research, there is plenty of evidence if you're willing to look for it. You will then understand how we have to pay taxes to pay the interest to this private cartel.
9. wiltshire said...
51ck-6-51x, I appreciate it's not entirely the governments fault that inflation is running so high. But it is their fault that they keep trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the electorate by fudging the true inflation figures. And that is a dis-service to the people of the UK who the government should be protecting from ravaging inflation. You can fool some of the people some of the time but in the fullness of time you will be exposed. Labour now have a situation where very few people actually believe the published inflation figures because they know on a daily basis their costs are increasing a lot faster than 2.5% per annum. So Labour now have to deal with the fall-out which impacts on their credibility (what credibility???), impacts on their miracle house prices, impacts on wage negotiations/potential strike action, impacts EVERYWHERE. They have created a situation whereby a large number of very serious chickens are all coming home to roost at exactly the same time.
10. Bananasplit said...
There is only one thing to do when food prices are unaffordable - cook,bake,stew your own and stop buying starbucks coffee and pizza express americano's. The slow cookers are very good and only cost the same to run as a lightbulb. When buying your fresh food shop at your local butcher, fishmonger and fruit and veg shop it is better quality and good value. lazy cooks spend more !!!
11. mrmickey said...
It's funny how we go from abundance to shortages in one fell swoop. This happens every time the powers that be try to inflate their currencies out of trouble. Of course rising prices are down to global warming, the Russians, shortages, sun spots etc etc but never the people that have control over the printing presses. And then what happens the government step in with price controls and other measures to try to cure the mess they caused in the first place.
12. hpwatcher said...
I think Labour is responsible. They failed to control the economy when it was clearly overheating.
What Brown has done amounts to sit back and watching someone stuff themselves with lard and then have a full blown heart attack.
I don't care what anyone says, the economic negligence Gordon Brown has shown is criminal.
13. bystander said...
"I would not rush to blame the government on this one. Food inflation is the result of global forces, only some of these directly caused by this government (e.g. the recent bio fuel target), the biggest causes I think are trade barriers & taxes, western farmer's subsidies and the weather." @51ik-6-51x
.I agree with you and wiltshire,but must also add the not inconsiderable power of speculators who have jumped into oil (crude record highs) and soft commodities like wheat, rice etc. as a hedge against the weakening dollar. We are again at the mercy of those very clever people in the city (be that London, New York, Mumbai, Singapore etc. etc.). A lot of the blame for inflation in the UK lies at the feet ot NULAB and especially GB for re-writing the constituent parts of CPI to suit their purposes, to drop rates to win votes and by doing so devaluing the pound and importing inflationary pressures, but as I have said the same people who caused the subprime debacle are the same people pushing up commodity prices, including rice, wheat and oil, for personal or corporate greed. There needs to be regulation and caps put on the prices these 'staples' can be bought and sold at. The weather, and terrorism have always been a cause of disruption, but these are the same convenient 'truths' used by GB etc. when justifying the HPI - 'immigration, supply and demand etc". Why can't someone tell the truth for once and why can't someone put a stop to the worldwide (globalisation) destruction of the many to satisfy the few (big bonuses, pay-offs etc)?
14. mark wadsworth said...
Re bio-fuel, I have just stumbled across a calculation on EU Referendum - if the UK were to achieve even the EU's modest target of 5% bio-fuel, it would require 70% of our domestic wheat crop. OK, we're only one-tenth of the way there, but there's no reason to be surprised that growing bio-fuels instead of food has led to food price inflation ...
15. indiablue19 said...
You know, it is one thing to have hypothetical figures bandied here and there. When people experience dire shortage and real hunger as they attempt to carry our jobs and studies in a civilised nation, then we will find quite shortly WHO is responsible and WHERE the shortages will be made up. Handing ever more paper money and promisary notes to bankers and stockholders probably isn't going to quench the flames of real anger and despair. And, as sad, how did this problem suddenly emerge in just a few weeks? Where has the information and planning been thus far? Why is oil in a moment at $118 and food throught the roof? These are part and parcel of survival by now. What incompetence!!!
16. lvmreader said...
We wouldn't need biofuels if we just used Texxi
www.texxi.com
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/07/texting_sms_for.html
17. indiablue19 said...
Interesting that where we live we are utterly surrounded by rapeseed fields now. Not one sliver of corn, wheat, or potatoes. It will be interesting to have so much diesel fuel for deliveries -- and nothing to deliver.
18. plato said...
indiablue19 said...
"The bandit-in-chief of this disgusting Company was deported from Britain once as an immoral slum landlord who also dabbled in voter fraud. Talk about Buy to Let! She's been allowed back now to live in luxury in Mayfair while others tote up the impossible increases on their food bill. Why?"
Interesting indiablue19 : I always made a special point of not shopping in this way as it simply felt wrong. Sort of destroyed the community.
Also removes real competition, restricts agricultural production and controls in many ways. All facts not opinion.
I think I'll have a read about this 'bandit in chief' as I had no Idea and being aware is important.
19. waitingfor hpc said...
GB has stoked the inflationary fires - taxes, minimum wage, red tape. Artificial IR's and false CPI figures all been around way too long.
20. indiablue19 said...
Plato, I agree on the destruction of community that is apparent with buying from Tesco's. But with the local shops, there go many of the post offices and community gathering spots as well. Have always found that to argue against Tesco, on moral grounds particularly, is a losing battle where people want convenience and not to hear much. A losing battle, much like getting it's primary stockholder to play fair with the people who still buy her food despite being defrauded by her!
Suggest the following, off the top, as a starting place for your research, but sure there are loads more, and probably better, sources:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/jul/01/housing.conservativeparty
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20030706/ai_n12744122
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Porter
This wikipedia version [never the most accurate] says that she "retired" to Tel Aviv and then contradicts itself saying she "returned from self imposed exile" in 2006. Well, there was a controversy that spurred her to leave, and then another about allowing her back in 2006 to live in a £1.5 flat in Mayfair besides. Hardly retirement timbre. But the spinelessness of the times prevailed in all cases and she is unscathed I believe, except for purportedly and FINALLY paying part of the original fine, whereas, anybody else would have gone to prison.
When she left for Israel it was quite clear in the papers that she was departing to escape conviction. There are probably other versions elsewhere. The corporation she headed, as primary stockholder of Tescos was mysteriously "bankrupted" read: stock distributed among close relatives and or assets held offshore and bank accounts packed off to Switzerland.
The price tag for defrauding taxpayers came to an estimated £27,000,000 at the time. They negotiated a settlement with her for £12,500,000 and she still wouldn't pay up until recently to get back into London, her happy hunting ground.
21. paul said...
Notice the BBC won't refer to this article in context of current inflation figures.
There seems to be this weird disjoint - stories about rising food and oil prices, but no mention of the possible effect on the Contrived Price Index.
22. plato said...
indiablue 19
Thanks - already had a quick look - will read in depth later. Yes I'm familiar with this character, just stored in my subconscious over time and clicked with your post. Nasty !!!
23. Fed Up said...
Not surpisingly the BBC article fails to mention the effect of Gordon Mugabe's Sterling devaluation on driving up inflation.