I was discussing inflation with a couple of colleagues last week... our experiences of rising prices seemed to be completely at odds with the official figures. I first noticed this in November last year when my dry cleaning bill shot up and one of the items I discussed last week was the perceived increase in cost of various items at Top Man (e.g. semi-disposable sunglasses up £2 since last year, etc).
It seems we weren't the only ones to notice. David Smith at the Times has spotted something similar.
His take is that the inflation figure is completely misleading as the massive price deflation for goods like cameras and computers if offsetting the very real rise in prices for services. I think he's probably right. However, that doesn't explain my, admittedly trivial, sunglasses observation. Perhaps it's an effect of the increase in prices for Chinese goods that our rulers so selflessly negotiated for us last year?
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3 comments:
No, you are no the only one thinking that inflation is a MUCh bigger problem than governements report! Here in the USA, I think the government deliberately seeks out items that have not gone up in price, then bases the report on those few items. Actually, almost everything has greatly increased in price this past few months. The largest price increases are in gasoline and presciption drug prices. Our government will never report actual inflation figures and will deny that it is happening, but our people are very much aware of it. The current administration in our government tells so many lies that few of us, and no foreign countries, believe anything they say. It is probably the most dishonest administration we've ever had, certainly so in my lifetime. And I've lived for a long time. The only thing we can do is try to get them out of office in the next election and hope their successors will be better. Not at all sure that politicians can ever be described as better though.
On another subject, my son visited London for the first time a few weeks ago. He loved it! Was much impressed with the healthy foods available to him there, the tulip gardens every where, and the many historical sites he visited. He has decided he would like to go live in London, at least for a while. He was on a business trip and unlike other people I've known that went to England, he thought the people he met were very friendly and helpful. He has to be on a very restricted diet for health reasons and was surprised and so very pleased to find that so many resturants were very willing to prepare special foods for him. The whole experience for him was a most pleasant one. Going to London was a lifelong dream come true for him. And he found it just as wonderful as he had dreamed it would be.
anonymous (or rather his son) must be mad
london is a shite hole - end of.
looking forward to the iranians dropping a bomb on it - hope the wind is blowing south when they do tho'!
Thanks for the comments, anonymous#1. #2... not sure who you are. London is nice!
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