You’re Being Lied to About Inflation

I’m calling bullshit.

We’re being fed a line from government ministers and other overpaid public ‘servants’ such as the governor of the Bank of England. That they can’t pay train workers more, because then they’ll have to pay nurses more, and public sector workers more, and care workers more. And if they do that, the private sector will have to pay workers more, and then that will make inflation go even higher.

There’s some big problems with this concept. Firstly, the current inflation figures are based on the previous 12 months price rises. We’ve not seen huge increases in wages over the past 12 months, and yet inflation has still managed to hit the highest figure in over 40 years. Funny that.

Secondly, and this is the real con, is that it’s expected that any increase in wages to employees need to be passed directly on to consumers. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak expect us to believe that times are so tough for the corporations that run this country, that they simply can’t afford to absorb any increase in cost without completely falling apart.

It’s nonsense.

But don’t just take my word for it, let's look at the figures. My favourite is the energy sector. Fuck me, energy prices are just getting insane, and we’re being told now to expect a further 50% increase in October. I honestly don’t know how people are able to afford their bills as it is. I’m doing alright financially, live in a modest 3 bed semi, and our gas and electric is over £3,000 a year. It’s madness.

But of course, it’s not the poor power companies fault is it? Nawww poor British Gas. Really? British Gas made a profit of £948 million in 2021. Yes, the industry is a mess and plenty of companies lost money, but the point is for many energy suppliers, profits were being made hand over fist and yet customers still saw their bills go nuts.

What about supermarkets? Remember that inflation figures are for the past 12 months, so these numbers we’re seeing now reflect the rising prices from a year ago. Well, throughout that period Tesco made a profit of £2.5 billion. Sainsbury’s made a profit of £730 million.  

This is the same in almost any industry. Corporate profits in the UK have been marching ever higher since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, with senior executive pay and bonuses following along. Everyone else down the ladder has been getting shit on.

Companies can afford to pay their staff more. It means lower profits for shareholders and it means lower bonus packages for executives. It doesn’t mean no profit for shareholders and shit pay for executives. This isn’t about taking everything from one group to give to another, it’s about equalising what is becoming a more and more wonky playing field every single day.

Don’t buy this line we’re being fed. We shouldn’t accept subsistence living in a country as supposedly wealthy as ours. There is enough talent, enough education and enough capital to create an economy that provides a high quality of life for everyone, not an amazing quality of life for some a shit one for others.