>Last week’s news that inflation in food and nonalcoholic drink has reached 19.1% should be setting alarm bells ringing across the government.
>For poorer families, who spend a larger portion of their income on food and other basic essentials, the impact is worse still.
>Even before the cost of living crisis took root, 4.7 million people were in food insecurity, with Britain already a nation of rising in-work poverty and families – including 800,000 children – forced to turn to food banks.
>On the Brexit-supporting right of politics there is a fashion to criticise the Bank of England for failing to control inflation and getting all of its forecasts wrong.
>But rather than leaving the EU bringing a 20% cut in food prices, predicted by Jacob Rees-Mogg, exactly the opposite has happened.
>
>Some critics argue that food prices had fallen to unsustainably cheap levels in recent decades, driven by supermarket competition, global supply chains and industrialised food processing.
>However, this provides yet further evidence of the need for the government to get a grip. If the market entered the current crisis in a fragile state, is the best solution to simply watch as it fails?
>The dangers of leaving households to face the full brunt of dysfunctional market forces are plain to see.
>About half of adults are worried about food costs, official estimates show, with higher rates in deprived areas. Soaring prices for nutritious, healthy food will have the biggest impact on poorer families, at a time when long-term ill health is at record levels among working-age adults.
>With the cost of living crisis entering a new phase, action is required to prevent soaring food costs from stoking already worrying health inequalities. Failure would risk perpetuating the crisis long into the future.
They’re not doing anything because they believe in putting profits before people. Especially their own profits – all of them either own or have a mate that owns shares in profiteering companies which are taking advantage of inflation to increase prices over and above what they should.
The conservatives will never enact any policy which directly helps the people of this country unless their feet are held to the fire and it’s a threat to their hold on power. Just look how begrudgingly they taxed the oil and gas companies and then did the least they possibly could.
Doesn’t affect them or their donors so why the fuck would they care ?
As soon as we get brexit done the prices are going to come tumbling down. Just you wait.
What do people expect? Price control? Each time there is a price control, it will end up being more expensive for the consumers…
It is a political machine that is designed to do a lot of things but sorting out complicated nitty gritty problems for the good of the general populace is absolutely not one of them.
If you walked into Tory HQ and started talking about figuring out how to unravel the food inflation crisis so that people have easier lives they would look at you like you’re fucking crazy.
Way too much work to do feathering their own nests
Price control is usually the first suggestion but it would be quite difficult across thousands of products and stores.
An alternative would be forcing the price increases to be displayed on the shelves, in at least the same size as special offers and price reductions. I would take that further to include reduction in sizes as well. Would need to look at what time scale for the price comparison but wouldn’t be too difficult.
Because the Conservative Party do not give the slightest fuck whether you live or die.
Also empty shelves, still. Why can I never find eggs?
Why isn’t the government focusing on anything useful for the everyday person? Oh yeah. They don’t give a shit. That’s why
Cause they’re friends with the business owners fleecing the fuck out of all of us.
Farmers have increased costs because of energy and price of feed. British shoppers have paid low prices for too long. Eggs, butter, milk have increased in price around the world. The answer is to increase supply, but that would require a better deal for farmers.
Poor people problem innit? Tories won’t give a fuck.
Because Grocery prices are still modest, we just got accustomed to having the cheapest food in Europe. Not exactly much room to push them down beyond maybe like a fiver a week for an average weekly shop.
Once again, the real issue isn’t food shopping, it’s housing and energy, of which the Gov has been systematically failing, primarily due to their refusal to reform planning legislation
Because they don’t give a shit about poor people and prioritise maximum profits over everything else. We’ve known this about the Tories for decades, centuries even, why do you even have to ask?
go to your locally owned shops and markets and theres a 99% chance you’ll find that theres no price gouging, no shortages, and no drop in quality. This is pretty much a super market issue
>Some critics argue that food prices had fallen to unsustainably cheap levels in recent decades, driven by supermarket competition, global supply chains and industrialised food processing.
I kind of agree with this. Not that I want people to go hungry, I know how it would impact people if food was as expensive, relatively, as it was in the past. But I remember not too many years ago being able to walk into tesco and buy a whole chicken for £3.50. Enough meat for several meals, for the cost of 30 minutes wages’. It seemed absurdly cheap. It’s hard to imagine, even with economies of scale, that it cost so little to raise it from egg to slaughter – the feed, heating the pen, transportation etc – not to mention this being the value of the bird’s life in an abstract sense.
Too tricky to fix, but they just want to distract us with which bathrooms 0.2% of the population should use. Cos that’s what *really* matters, apparently…
Massive inflation props up the “economy”.
Spending is up across the board, wow! The economy must be doing so well.
Because they can afford food, so what’s the problem? Pretty much the same attitude they have towards everything else. And if I’m being extra frank, many of them think it’s a good thing that the poor are starving. It really feeds into their hierarchy fetish.
What are you expecting them to do? Energy prices are high, there’s a war in Eastern Europe, many crop failures around the world.
“why isn’t everything free?! Is it because the government hates poor people!”
No, it’s because growing food takes loads of work. It’s a miracle that food is as cheap as it is.
Prices will never go back down, it just never happens.
Because Rishi is so out of touch he barely notices grocery prices.
Until they are affected personally, it is not a problem for them. As it stands, this is the market at work for them and they are content with that. It is not like they will ever have to worry about Brits rioting either. If we were more like the French and were taking to the streets over rising food prices then they might try to do something, even if was a token gesture. It all comes to a lack of incentives at the end of the day, so nothing will ever change.
Capitalism: This Gov’t are bunch of shallow buffoons posing in front of the cameras, they only care about themselves, and whoever will give them money.
They know the reason but they won’t say it, because it’s there policies that have caused it
Didn’t this problem get solved decades back? Subsidies to farmers? Didn’t there used to be mountains of butter and lakes of wine as an insurance against this kind of problem?
They will do nothing until number 10 is stormed. You are telling them every day that you are wiling to put up with this treatment.
That’s a poor people problem. You think the Conservatives give a shit about poor people? For them, looking after poor people is a poor people problem. They’re too busy corruptly spending your money to give a shit.
Couldn’t be anything to do with their corruption bribing friends making all that money by design?
They’d rather distract you with manufactured moral panics so we stop looking at the crumbling of the country.
It’s your own fault if your poor, that’s why. You should get a better paid job. Or work more hours. And stop getting Netflix. Because that 7.99 per month would really make a big difference.
Don’t forget to eat gruel every day. It’s cheap.
Replace ‘grocery’ with literally any other word and you’ll get the same answer.
Err…is it because they are completely useless and they don’t give a shit?
And do what exactly? Interfere in the market place? Food costs because theres a long line of people in the supply chain and they’ve increased costs and therefore prices (and some profit gauging for sure in some areas). How exactly is the govt to tell every supermarket to charge less? What percentage profit does a supermarket even make? 5-10%?? Inflation is driven by so many things the govt doesnt control – oil and gas being one of them. The oil and gas producers are making exorbitant profits, but they also dont get a choice as to what their product is sold for as its set by the global market. And even that has come way down from its peak. Its the knee jerk lets increase interest rates i way more bothered by a govt failing. So many prices dont change even if demand is low because they cost what they cost to make, and therefore inflation doesnt change, but im way worse off from increased mortgage. Now that really does need a better approach.
37 comments
Excerpt from the linked content:^1
>Last week’s news that inflation in food and nonalcoholic drink has reached 19.1% should be setting alarm bells ringing across the government.
>For poorer families, who spend a larger portion of their income on food and other basic essentials, the impact is worse still.
>Even before the cost of living crisis took root, 4.7 million people were in food insecurity, with Britain already a nation of rising in-work poverty and families – including 800,000 children – forced to turn to food banks.
>On the Brexit-supporting right of politics there is a fashion to criticise the Bank of England for failing to control inflation and getting all of its forecasts wrong.
>But rather than leaving the EU bringing a 20% cut in food prices, predicted by Jacob Rees-Mogg, exactly the opposite has happened.
>
>Some critics argue that food prices had fallen to unsustainably cheap levels in recent decades, driven by supermarket competition, global supply chains and industrialised food processing.
>However, this provides yet further evidence of the need for the government to get a grip. If the market entered the current crisis in a fragile state, is the best solution to simply watch as it fails?
>The dangers of leaving households to face the full brunt of dysfunctional market forces are plain to see.
>About half of adults are worried about food costs, official estimates show, with higher rates in deprived areas. Soaring prices for nutritious, healthy food will have the biggest impact on poorer families, at a time when long-term ill health is at record levels among working-age adults.
>With the cost of living crisis entering a new phase, action is required to prevent soaring food costs from stoking already worrying health inequalities. Failure would risk perpetuating the crisis long into the future.
^1 Richard Partington (23 Apr. 2023), “Food for thought: why isn’t the UK government focusing on soaring grocery prices?”, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/23/food-for-thought-why-isnt-the-uk-government-focusing-on-soaring-grocery-prices
They’re not doing anything because they believe in putting profits before people. Especially their own profits – all of them either own or have a mate that owns shares in profiteering companies which are taking advantage of inflation to increase prices over and above what they should.
The conservatives will never enact any policy which directly helps the people of this country unless their feet are held to the fire and it’s a threat to their hold on power. Just look how begrudgingly they taxed the oil and gas companies and then did the least they possibly could.
Doesn’t affect them or their donors so why the fuck would they care ?
As soon as we get brexit done the prices are going to come tumbling down. Just you wait.
What do people expect? Price control? Each time there is a price control, it will end up being more expensive for the consumers…
It is a political machine that is designed to do a lot of things but sorting out complicated nitty gritty problems for the good of the general populace is absolutely not one of them.
If you walked into Tory HQ and started talking about figuring out how to unravel the food inflation crisis so that people have easier lives they would look at you like you’re fucking crazy.
Way too much work to do feathering their own nests
Price control is usually the first suggestion but it would be quite difficult across thousands of products and stores.
An alternative would be forcing the price increases to be displayed on the shelves, in at least the same size as special offers and price reductions. I would take that further to include reduction in sizes as well. Would need to look at what time scale for the price comparison but wouldn’t be too difficult.
Because the Conservative Party do not give the slightest fuck whether you live or die.
Also empty shelves, still. Why can I never find eggs?
Why isn’t the government focusing on anything useful for the everyday person? Oh yeah. They don’t give a shit. That’s why
Cause they’re friends with the business owners fleecing the fuck out of all of us.
Farmers have increased costs because of energy and price of feed. British shoppers have paid low prices for too long. Eggs, butter, milk have increased in price around the world. The answer is to increase supply, but that would require a better deal for farmers.
Poor people problem innit? Tories won’t give a fuck.
Because Grocery prices are still modest, we just got accustomed to having the cheapest food in Europe. Not exactly much room to push them down beyond maybe like a fiver a week for an average weekly shop.
Once again, the real issue isn’t food shopping, it’s housing and energy, of which the Gov has been systematically failing, primarily due to their refusal to reform planning legislation
Because they don’t give a shit about poor people and prioritise maximum profits over everything else. We’ve known this about the Tories for decades, centuries even, why do you even have to ask?
go to your locally owned shops and markets and theres a 99% chance you’ll find that theres no price gouging, no shortages, and no drop in quality. This is pretty much a super market issue
>Some critics argue that food prices had fallen to unsustainably cheap levels in recent decades, driven by supermarket competition, global supply chains and industrialised food processing.
I kind of agree with this. Not that I want people to go hungry, I know how it would impact people if food was as expensive, relatively, as it was in the past. But I remember not too many years ago being able to walk into tesco and buy a whole chicken for £3.50. Enough meat for several meals, for the cost of 30 minutes wages’. It seemed absurdly cheap. It’s hard to imagine, even with economies of scale, that it cost so little to raise it from egg to slaughter – the feed, heating the pen, transportation etc – not to mention this being the value of the bird’s life in an abstract sense.
Too tricky to fix, but they just want to distract us with which bathrooms 0.2% of the population should use. Cos that’s what *really* matters, apparently…
Massive inflation props up the “economy”.
Spending is up across the board, wow! The economy must be doing so well.
Because they can afford food, so what’s the problem? Pretty much the same attitude they have towards everything else. And if I’m being extra frank, many of them think it’s a good thing that the poor are starving. It really feeds into their hierarchy fetish.
What are you expecting them to do? Energy prices are high, there’s a war in Eastern Europe, many crop failures around the world.
“why isn’t everything free?! Is it because the government hates poor people!”
No, it’s because growing food takes loads of work. It’s a miracle that food is as cheap as it is.
Prices will never go back down, it just never happens.
Because Rishi is so out of touch he barely notices grocery prices.
Until they are affected personally, it is not a problem for them. As it stands, this is the market at work for them and they are content with that. It is not like they will ever have to worry about Brits rioting either. If we were more like the French and were taking to the streets over rising food prices then they might try to do something, even if was a token gesture. It all comes to a lack of incentives at the end of the day, so nothing will ever change.
Capitalism: This Gov’t are bunch of shallow buffoons posing in front of the cameras, they only care about themselves, and whoever will give them money.
They know the reason but they won’t say it, because it’s there policies that have caused it
Didn’t this problem get solved decades back? Subsidies to farmers? Didn’t there used to be mountains of butter and lakes of wine as an insurance against this kind of problem?
They will do nothing until number 10 is stormed. You are telling them every day that you are wiling to put up with this treatment.
That’s a poor people problem. You think the Conservatives give a shit about poor people? For them, looking after poor people is a poor people problem. They’re too busy corruptly spending your money to give a shit.
Couldn’t be anything to do with their corruption bribing friends making all that money by design?
They’d rather distract you with manufactured moral panics so we stop looking at the crumbling of the country.
It’s your own fault if your poor, that’s why. You should get a better paid job. Or work more hours. And stop getting Netflix. Because that 7.99 per month would really make a big difference.
Don’t forget to eat gruel every day. It’s cheap.
Replace ‘grocery’ with literally any other word and you’ll get the same answer.
Err…is it because they are completely useless and they don’t give a shit?
And do what exactly? Interfere in the market place? Food costs because theres a long line of people in the supply chain and they’ve increased costs and therefore prices (and some profit gauging for sure in some areas). How exactly is the govt to tell every supermarket to charge less? What percentage profit does a supermarket even make? 5-10%?? Inflation is driven by so many things the govt doesnt control – oil and gas being one of them. The oil and gas producers are making exorbitant profits, but they also dont get a choice as to what their product is sold for as its set by the global market. And even that has come way down from its peak. Its the knee jerk lets increase interest rates i way more bothered by a govt failing. So many prices dont change even if demand is low because they cost what they cost to make, and therefore inflation doesnt change, but im way worse off from increased mortgage. Now that really does need a better approach.