Why is everything so expensive now ? Is it partly due to the lockdowns ?

[Lipglosser]

Seriously somethings are four/five times the price they were

just wondering why everything has got so so expensive

I think it's because of Harry and Meghan.

Ukraine war stopped gas and oil from Russia which means energy is more expensive.
almost everything that is made needs electricity or gas or oil to make it so almost everything is more expensive.

plus Covid.

Either them, or the small boats. Yes that's it!

It's immigration but it's okay because Reform will solve everything if they get into power

Interest rates were low for ages so suppressed the fact that wages have stagnated plus borrowing was cheap.

Brexit made things more expensive

Ukraine war impacting food and utility prices.

Brexit
Ukraine war
Climate change has led to widespread crop failures
Supermarkets profiteering

What I find weird is that everyone is talking about cost of living and raised costs of food production, wages and utilities so prices are going up. The thing is, prices are going up and ‘we’ have less money yet the supermarkets are reporting record profits.

There should be some sort of rule, law or intervention on how much of the costs can be passed on to the consumer. Retail giants like Tesco and Sainsbury’s should have to suck up some of the costs too!!

Not really.
Ukraine war and Brexit are the main causes.

We are feeling the consequences of Brexit. Not saying that's the only factor in higher prices, but it's certainly a significant one. We used to have free movement of goods between the UK and 27 other countries. Now we don't, so there are extra costs involved in importing goods into the UK. Inevitably those costs will at least in part get passed on to the consumer. Lots of people made exactly this point before the EU referendum, but Leave voters were too busy shouting "Project Fear" to listen.

Absolutely this. I know Brexit, Ukraine and climate change are all having an impact but it feels like the consumer (and probably farmer) is expected to absorb all the cost rather than a proportion. Someone, somewhere, is making an awful lot of money.

It feels as though the gloves are off in terms of how much ordinary people can be milked for - see Thames Water for another example.

Brevity and Ukraine. I blame Putin for a lot tbh.

Also transport and instability in the middle east. If container ships are delayed or have to go via South Africa that puts £££ on goods.

It’s everything mentioned plus quantitive easing that began after the financial crisis in 2008. Used by the Bank of England to buy assets, some would argue it’s a bit like printing extra money. Far more in depth explanation is obviously available online.

We never recovered from the 08 crash basically

And the same with energy providers, able to make record profits whilst people go without heat.

The thing I find annoying is that the B of E (or of Australia where I am) will say “inflation is up so we have to raise interest rates”. Oh, and pray tell, why is inflation up? Are we all spending on fun, new clothes, holidays and entertainment? No, we’re spending more on petrol, electricity bills and food - not because we’re buying more, or buying better, but because the shops and energy companies are putting their prices up because heaven forbid they could make less money. It’s not like we can say, oh ok I’ll just decide to NOT eat food or not put petrol in the car.

And the only people who ARE spending on fun things are the ones without a mortgage who are totally unaffected by interest rates going up, in fact, they often welcome it because they have savings.

Wait until the budget next month. A 3p rise in income tax has been all but confirmed. That's a £50 a month pay cut for everyone.

It's all down to Brexit.

Wait until the budget next month. A 3p rise in income tax has been all but confirmed. That's a £50 a month pay cut for everyone.

😭

That’s exactly it isn’t! The rich are getting richer whilst making the poorer people poorer.

I know the comments about the small boats and immigration weren’t serious but I feel like those who really are pointing fingers at things like that are doing so as a diversionary tactic.

I don’t know how it ends though. It’s like the French Revolution. “The people are starving, they have no bread. Then let them eat cake!”

Many people are underestimating the effect of the NIC and living wage increases. Businesses are facing huge increases in staffing costs and, therefore, have had to increase prices. That then feeds through the whole economy.

Liz truss should never have gone against the IM and cut the NI levels. They should have been left alone, that just compounded the black hole.

If we are blaming anything I blame house and land prices. It leaches into everything and every business.

your childcare costs pay for the rent on the building,
your car servicing goes up because the rent on the workshop goes up.
hair dressers, the shops rent has gone up.
smaller business premises are being redeveloped into (much needed) housing. That means there’s fewer small premises, pushing prices up on those that there are. Making it more difficult for small businesses to compete with the likes of Amazon, Tesco etc.
That’s before you look at wages and earning enough to rent or buy a property.

if chickens had gone up as much as housing we’d be paying £50 a chicken.

It’s not just rent that has an impact. In many cases, commercial rents haven’t increased very much. In fact, in many parts of the country they’ve actually decreased. The business rates on businesses premises are often huge though. Those business rates on retail and hospitality were massively increased in the current tax year.

Take an example of a restaurant. Their business rates have increased hugely. Their staff are often on the living wage, which has increased a lot. Employers’ NIC has increased a lot. On top of that, their suppliers have had to increase their prices to mitigate the effect of the same tax rises on their businesses.

Yep

Was in a chain coffee shop early this morning around 8am, one young person on her own doing it all. Probably only on minimum wage. Didn’t see anyone else around to help out , but it struck me how understaffed places seem to be , yet they still manage to make a profit.