Inflation Down

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by entwisi

My sister is currently over from France ( She's lived there ~ 18 years now) and commented that food is much cheaper and public transport horrendously more expensive. Electrical goods appear cheaper but obviously Wine much dearer(although beer is similar).

IMHO some prices have gone up but some have dropped, electricals are always a hard point to use in discussion of inflation as from one year to the next due to teh fact that teh prices stay teh same but you just get more for your money... e.g. TVs are still around 2-500 quid, but you now get Full HD, LCDs with internet access etc built in where as 10 years ago the prices were similar but you were probably getting a old style CRT.... ditto PCs, prices stay stable, specs go up.

2-500 quid entwisi, I take it you mean £2500, in which case I'll definitely keep well away from the firm you deal with, I have a 42in Plasma HD 3D telly which didn't cost less than half of that price mate

[Margaret Pilkington]

John, I think he might have meant between £200 and £500.

It is the things like Bread, milk, butter etc that are going up in leaps and bounds...and the things that don't appear to have risen in price have shrunk in size.......200grms of cheese in a pack that used to be 300 grms...which is a price rise, a hidden one.

I never believe the figures that any government put out...they are invariably massaged in some way to make the current incumbents look good, rather that to inform the general public. Just a sound bite.......of no earthly value.

[Alan Varrechia]

I,m with you on that one Margaret.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

John, I think he might have meant between £200 and £500.

It is the things like Bread, milk, butter etc that are going up in leaps and bounds...and the things that don't appear to have risen in price have shrunk in size.......200grms of cheese in a pack that used to be 300 grms...which is a price rise, a hidden one.

I never believe the figures that any government put out...they are invariably massaged in some way to make the current incumbents look good, rather that to inform the general public. Just a sound bite.......of no earthly value.

Its not the government that put these figures out though Margaret

[Margaret Pilkington]

Isn't it a government manipulated agency John?

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Isn't it a government manipulated agency John?

Its the office of National statistics Margaret, completely free from government influence, its done that way to stop governments fiddling the figures

[Margaret Pilkington]

The Office of National Statistics is responsible for publishing these figures.......and despite the fact that they report inflation has fallen, it is, in the main, due to the way these statistics are calculated(which means the figures are manipulated....massaged, unrealistic)
and they are still double what the Bank of England wants the country to achieve.(2%)

I got a letter today from my energy supplier.......Electricity up by 16%(that is 4 times the rate of inflation) gas prices up by 18% (four and a half times the rate of inflation)...and it might be that you would say 'Change your supplier'...but one starts the rises and the others all follow, so it is a pointless exercise really.

I shall be trawling the charity shops for some warm jumpers before the winter comes.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Hmmmmm, maybe it is supposed to be free of government influence, but I am dubious to say the least.
Yes John, I knew who published the figures you just posted a few minutes before me......I have more in me head than mucky water.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Hmmm, maybe it is supposed to be free of government influence, but I am dubious to say the least.
Yes John, I knew who published the figures you just posted a few minutes before me......I have more in me head than mucky water.

The reason these figures are government free is to stop a false picture being painted to gain political advantage, which in the whole does seem to work overall

[Margaret Pilkington]

The thing is John, if they don't take into account the stuff that families rely on and buy every week(and you don't buy large electrical puchases every week...or car or computers) then the figures become unrepresentative....and do not show a true picture.
I know that we are not eating any more food than normal, but my grocery shopping has gone up far more that 4%...if they said 14% they would be nearer the mark....and I am a thrifty and careful shopper(I make all our food from scratch......no ready meals etc).

It is a bit useless to tell us all that inflation is running at 4%, when we can all see from our outgoings that this figure might just as well have been plucked from thin air.

I have always been of the opinion that statistics can be slewed to make them say what you want them to say....as someone once said 'There are lies, Damned lies, and statistics'.....I don't know who it was, but I reckon they had it in a nutshell.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

The thing is John, if they don't take into account the stuff that families rely on and buy every week(and you don't buy large electrical puchases every week...or car or computers) then the figures become unrepresentative....and do not show a true picture.
I know that we are not eating any more food than normal, but my grocery shopping has gone up far more that 4%...if they said 14% they would be nearer the mark....and I am a thrifty and careful shopper(I make all our food from scratch......no ready meals etc).

It is a bit useless to tell us all that inflation is running at 4%, when we can all see from our outgoings that this figure might just as well have been plucked from thin air.

I have always been of the opinion that statistics can be slewed to make them say what you want them to say....as someone once said 'There are lies, Damned lies, and statistics'.....I don't know who it was, but I reckon they had it in a nutshell.

Ya there is a debate about the originality of that statement Margaret, from Mark Twain, Benjamin Disraeli, Walter Bagshot, but the favourite is Lord Courtney who is supposed to have made it in 1895, whoever it was certainly had a point, but I think they are a lot nearer today that they ever used to be

[Margaret Pilkington]

John being nearer just doesn't cut it. Why pay someone to collate figures that are clearly misleading and inaccurate? We all know because we are the ones pulling the notes out of the purse/wallet....and forgive me if I have got this wrong, but aren't the figures used as some measure of the countries financial health?

[Alan Varrechia]

Margaret. It's called the feel good factor. You sit back with your Rose coloured spectacles and bask in the Utopia.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Alan, I know what it is called, but 'The Feelgood Factor' is a great misnomer...more like 'The Feelpoor Factor'.

[cashman]

free of government interference or not "Inflation Figures" are the biggest load of tits since Sabrina, older members will know who she was.